Ikebana
by everyoneslamb
Summary: Non-mass, possessive, stalker Itachi. She would come to him. One way or another...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Naruto does notDisclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me.

Chapter One

 _She was perfect._

 _Her pale skin glowed against the darkness of his futon, slender fingers tangling in the material. Her sweat dampened hair clung to her forehead, some tendrils clinging to her flushed cheeks; breath wheezed in between her plump pink lips, even white teeth worrying the lower one as she struggled not to scream. Her breasts, scarcely more than a handful tipped with nipples the same color as her lips, bobbed enticingly. Her smooth, taught belly was covered in a fine sheen of perspiration, her slender hips bucking under the onslaught of his fingers between her smooth, milky thighs._

" _I'm still waiting for your answer, ouka." His voice was soft, barely audible over the rustling of her flailing body against his sheets. He could feel her rhythmic clenching around his fingers, almost painful; she was so tight._

" _Uh-unh?" Glazed eyes the color of spring leaves struggled to focus while her mouth only seemed capable of producing mindless groans of pleasure._

" _Who do you belong to?" He repeated, taking mercy on the poor thing. They'd been at this for hours after all._

" _Y-y-" She arced as his long slender fingers brushed something inside her. His other hand was wrapped around her hip, keeping her from wriggling her way away from him. As if she could. "Oh-oh please!"_

 _It was too much and at the same time not enough. She still couldn't reach that peak and she wouldn't. Not until he let her. "Not yet Hime, I still need to hear you say it."_

 _The hand on her hip slid up her torso, just barely brushing her skin, but raising goosebumps all the same until he was cupping the back of her neck and tangling in the sweat darkened locks he found there. She was so petite, it was like handling a doll. Or one of the Cherry Blossom Spirits from a childhood legend. He could break her, so easily, effortlessly. The fact that she trusted him not to was as arousing as watching her unravel in his hands._

" _I-ii-ita-"_

" _That's it," he coaxed, tilting her head so she looked into his eyes. His thumb began to circle the small bundle of nerves just above his fingers, but his grip in her hair (firm, but not pulling) kept her head from dropping back as she all but shrieked in overstimulation. "Say it. Look at me and say it. Then you'll scream it for me."_

 _Wide green eyes, still glistening with tears of frustration watched him as she licked her lips, struggling to concentrate. "Ii-ii-ta-Ita-chii!"_

" _Good girl." He used the leverage of his hands to pull her into a sitting position; the motion upsetting the rhythm of his fingers, but changing the angle so that he hit that spot inside her with every pump. Her breasts pressed against his chest. "Now come for me. Come now."_

 _Her entire body seized, her core clamping down on his fingers hard; all of her muscles tensing as she writhed in his grip like a serpent. Her pouting lips parting in a scream-_

He awoke with an almost inaudible huff.

It was too early to truly be called morning, but he knew himself well enough that sleep would not find him again tonight. He slid a hand through his loose hair as he sat up, the silk material of his sheets rubbed over his sensitive arousal. He suppressed a small hiss as he stood, silently padding across the tatami and opening the window. The moon was a tear in the inky fabric of the night sky. He could see roofs and darkened windows, her home was on the other side of the Hokage Tower, protected close to the center of town, but much too far from the Uchiha compound.

She was older now, no longer the young teenager he'd watched struggle to keep up with his foolish younger brother and his loud blonde friend. She was a conundrum, so small in stature and build (she would barely reach his chest) yet containing enough power in her tiny fists to level acres of forest in a single blow. Her temper was something to be marveled at as well, how such a small creature could house such inexhaustible ire piqued his interest. Her skin flushing, scarlet spreading across creamy porcelain, her dark green eyes snapping with fire that made even the most stalwart of shinobi flinch. Her hands clenching and un-clenching as though wanting to strangle something.

He'd also known she spent hours mentoring younger medics, teaching rudimentary healing techniques to anyone who asked. She would work herself into exhaustion to spare others pain. The same hands that could bring an army to its knees, could coax a heart to beat again. He'd seen her spend hours cajoling a civilian child through a broken arm, then knock the painter-nin across a training field for teasing her.

The contrast was bewitching.

To say that Itachi wanted her was an understatement. What had begun as a harmless observation, more to keep an eye on his brother, had quickly sent him spiraling into obsession. He relished the thought of having her temper directed at him, watching her heart shaped face flush in anger and her tiny form tremble with the force of her tantrum. He would keep pace with her as they destroyed acre after acre of Uchiha training ground before she was finally spent, then wrap her in his arms, whispering soothing nonsense until she calmed down.

He saw her behavior for what it was. A plea for attention, for someone, anyone to guide her. Someone that she couldn't hurt as she vented, but also someone who could take control when she reached her limit. She wasn't to be feared or salivated over by males seeking to satisfy a masochistic urge. Rather, she seemed to cry out to be cared for, to be understood even when she herself didn't know the root of her frustration. She needed to be tended to and coddled and pleasured and teased. And she would love him for it.

In a cramped office, deep in the bowels of Konoha Hospital , a young medic shuddered as she tried to focus on the report in front of her.

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As a medic, working late at the hospital wasn't unusual for Sakura. She usually spent most of her time in surgery, which meant that her office was more of a collection bin for paperwork (The Hokage's as well as her own). Her perfectionist nature couldn't stand to leave work unfinished, so this typically resulted in Sakura spending her free time catching up on reports.

"Ugh." She stretched, raising her arms and lacing her fingers above her head. The pinkette sighed as her back popped, the vertebrae realigning after hours hunched over. She dropped her arms back to her (finally!) empty desk and reached for her tea cup with her non-dominant hand, the other she flexed, attempting to work out the cramping in her tendons without using what little chakra she still retained. She winced at the cold, bitter liquid, but downed it anyway (it was wet and soothed her dry throat). Kami, she was tired. There was a strong, painful pulsing in her temples, tell-tale signs of chakra exhaustion. She needed some sleep. And a shower. After more than thirty-six hours straight in the hospital, she positively reeked of antiseptic, blood, and other things triage victims were usually covered in that she didn't want to think about.

Shower…or sleep.

Shower...or sleep.

I could sleep in the shower, but I should eat something too.

She rubbed a hand over the back of her sore neck as she locked her office door behind her. It was late, or early depending on how you viewed the small hours, and she was heading home. The corridors were so silent they almost seemed to hum in her ears, but that could've been the buzzing of her own exhaustion filling her head. A quiet hospital corridor starred in the nightmares of more than one shinobi, but Sakura found it comforting compared to the ear splitting sirens and frantic beeping of machines struggling to keep someone alive. The wails of anger and grief on behalf of the dead. The almost dial tone like sound of the heart monitor as death continued to thin the ranks of Konoha's best.

She nodded as she passed the night nurses station.

Yes, quiet was much better.

The normally bustling streets of Konoha were deserted apart from the occasional hiss of a territorial squabble between aggravated felines or the creaking of old trees swaying in the wind. Her apartment was equidistant from the Hokage Tower and the hospital, close to the center of town. It was a little more crowded than she liked, but at times like these, she appreciated the shortness of the journey between her and her soft, soft bed.

Her apartment was dark, but she crossed the hardwood with ease, stripping off her shoes in the doorway and flexing her aching feet, wiggling her toes. Her clothes laid a trail to her small, simple bathroom where she stepped into the shower without waiting for the water to heat up. She rinsed her hair and brushed her teeth, scrubbed herself with her exfoliating towel, leaving her tired body smelling faintly of whatever generic soap she'd bought because it was on sale.

Her oversized sleep shirt clung to her damp skin as she flopped onto the puffy pink futon she'd had since she was a genin. Sometimes it depressed her to realize how short she still was, but tonight she was too tired to care, flopping onto the blankets and dragging a strangely triangular plush into her arms as she immediately nodded off. She'd eat in the morning.

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Sakura was going to kill Sai. Irritably, she kicked a pebble, watching in fly towards her emotionally stunted teammate with malicious accuracy, but the bastard had the nerve to dodge his well-deserved punishment.

"Sakura-san," Yamato nudged the aggravated medic with the tentativeness usually reserved for wild animals, and proffered a small triangle of sandwich.

She snatched it up, giving her teammate a grateful half-smile, before devouring the sandwich in two quick bites, too fast to taste it. It sat heavy in her stomach, she could almost feel the bread expanding with moisture before stomach acid could dissolve it and she repressed the urge to gag as nausea surged up her throat. "Thanks."

"Not at all." The former ANBU Captain's dark eyes watched her carefully, taking in the shadows under her eyes, the looser fit of her gear.

She didn't notice, too busy glowering at the painter-nin who just smiled back at her unabashedly.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your useless attempt at beauty sleep, Hag, but according to a book I read, leading a person to believe they are late makes them move much faster than their usual pace. I was curious to see if it was true."

Why that little-!

"Well, we'll be done here soon. I think we've all earned a nap, wouldn't you say?" Yamato looked to Kakashi who had yet to look up from his book.

"Why not?"

"…you aren't listening, are you?"

"Sure."

Sakura snorted in amused irritation. Kakashi was Kakashi. "Nah…I have another shift at the hospital after this…Shizune is still in Tea country, so I'm in charge. You guys go ahead though."

Finally, one dark eye peered at Sakura over the orange cover. "Are you sure about that? Sai's right, you're looking a little ragged."

 **Ragged?!**

Inner was outraged.

 **I'll show you ragged when I knock your scarecrow ass into next week!**

Stop it! We couldn't land a hit on Kaka-sensei if we tried on a good day…and honestly, this isn't us at our best. I need to pick up soldiers pills on the way home…I ran out again.

"I am fully refreshed, but I'm sure that Ugly would like to return to her exercise in futility." Sai turned his fake smile towards the pinkette. "If eight hours a night is insufficient, should not your medical prowess imbue you with the necessary skills to induce a temporary coma?"

We will not punch our teammate, we will not punch our teammate, we will not-

 **Let me attem! Let me at him!**

We will NOT punch our teammate!

 **Why the hell not?!**

If we do, we'll either knock him out or halfway to Suna. I don't have the chakra or the patience to heal him! I just want to get this over with and stock up on more sleep. I hate it when my chakra runs this low…I feel vulnerable.

 **I hate it when you're right…but, whatever. Next time we spar, his ass is grass!**

Fair enough.

Looking back at the expectant painter-nin, she grinned with the same patronizing look reserved for dealing with small screaming children, or problem patients. "Actually, I'd probably have to induce a coma to get eight hours, but you look like you don't miss a wink. Gotta keep yourself pretty for the Daimyo's nephew, right?"

If Sai knew how to blush, his expression would've been hilarious. At last year's annual gathering, Team Seven served as an escort for the Daimyo. Normally, his own guards would be sufficient, but he wanted to impress his visiting brother-in-law (apparently, there was some friction there). Long story short, the Daimyo's nephew, a young aristocrat with a shocking low tolerance for alcohol had become entranced with Sai's exposed midriff and delicate features. She had never seen the painter-nin move as quickly as he practically fled to take Kakashi's place on patrol.

"What does winking have to do with sleep?"

"It's just a figure of speech."

Sai opened his mouth, but a sudden flex of chakra in the distance cut him off; something was coming and it didn't care if they knew it.

Kakashi sighed and tucked his book into his jounin vest.

Sai took out a paintbrush and Sakura flexed her fingers, cracked her knuckles inside her gloves. She had two options, use as little chakra as possible and use long range techniques, or ration what little she had, end it quickly, hoping that her stubborn refusal to be weak in front of her teammates would be enough to fuel the trip back to the village.

"Sakura, you can sit this one out if you need to," Yamato apparently understood how foolish his words were, because he only spoke once he was out of immediate striking distance.

That settled it.

Sakura's fists began to glow.

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The mission was a success.

The target, Tokagowa Yuu, was wanted under suspicion of distributing confidential information leading to the ambush of several Konoha ANBU. He was currently in one of Ibiki's cells while they waited for him to regain consciousness after a nasty blow to the back of the neck.

Sakura had no regrets.

"Well done." The voice of the slug princess was warm as she accepted her apprentice's already completed report. Warm gold eyes took in the shadows under Sakura's then narrowed when they assessed her chakra levels. Placing the completed report on her desk, she stared levelly at the stubborn pinkette. "What was the first lesson I taught you?"

"The medic is the most important member of the team."

"And why is that?"

"They have the skills and power to heal-"

The Hokage's fist hit the desk with a bang hard enough that it was surprising the wood did not split. Again. "Do you?!"

Sakura didn't flinch, but her expression hardened.

"If one of your teammates had been injured on this mission, could you have healed them?!"

"Shishou, no one was-"

"Answer me!"

"I would never let my team suffer!"

Tsunade drew in breath to continue, but then took a closer look at Sakura's posture. Her knees were locked, to prevent her from falling. Her hands were clenched at her sides and her head slightly tucked, like a child ready for a scolding. Exhaustion and guilt radiated from every pore. The Hokage's eyes softened very slightly. Sakura was an excellent student, and a stunning kunoichi in her own right considering she came from civilian background, but her stubborn denial of her own limits was inexcusable.

"Sakura, I'm giving you the next three days off to bring your chakra levels back up to scratch."

"Shishou, no! I'm not that tired, I just- I didn't sleep well last night and-" Her apprentice seemed almost panicked at the idea of taking a day off. She wasn't burnt out, she didn't need to be coddled. She wasn't weak!

"Either you take your days off, or I suspend you for a week for jeopardizing your teammates with your incompetence."

Sakura flinched. She wanted to argue, she knew she was needed at the hospital.

"This is for your own good, Sakura. Get some rest."

The pinkette bowed and left the tower, trudging at a pace close to civilian. Just a few more steps, then she could take a nice, long, relaxing shower. She would be better in the morning. Then Shishou would see and she would be back on schedule. She couldn't fall behind any further, she was playing catch up as it was.

It was a testament to her exhaustion that she didn't react when a shadow suddenly appeared in her line of vision. "Uchiha-san!"

Sasuke's elder brother was one of the most intimidating people that Sakura had ever met. The only person who made her more uncomfortable was Orochimaru, but that was more of a gross out factor than actual fear.

Not an incredibly tall man, though he still towered over her, Uchiha Itachi was disconcertingly magnetic. The movements of his slender frame fluid in a bizarre mix of aristocratic comportment and years of shinobi training. His chakra wasn't obnoxious like Sasuke or Naruto; her teammates took pride in their powerful auras, no matter how Sasuke tried to deny it. Instead, power rolled subtly off the ANBU Captain like a rip current, roiling beneath a placid surface; if you didn't know how to look for it, you would miss it entirely. Then, by the time you finally felt it, it was too late. You were fucked.

Dusk was just beginning to settle over the village, orange and purple meshing in the sky to form colors humans had no words for as night slowly gained ground. Visiting hours for the hospital would be over soon, so unless he was hurt, it was odd for him to be there. In fact, it was odd to see Sasuke's brother, period. From everything her teammate had said, which to be fair wasn't much, Itachi had very few off days, and chose to spend his valuable free time among his clan at the Uchiha compound.

"Haruno." His voice wasn't deep exactly, but it was low enough that something prickled along the back of Sakura's neck. Not fear exactly. That would be stupid. Scary or not Itachi was one of the most dedicated shinobi in Konoha, but something about him, the tone he used with no honorific, rubbed her the wrong way.

Elitist.

Forcing herself to make a pleasant overture, this was her teammate's family after all, Sakura felt the tired edges of her mouth pull into a deceptively bright smile. "On your way to the hospital? You aren't injured I hope."

"Hn-" Sakura felt her smile twitch "-I'm on my way to visit Shisui."

"Ah, I remember, broken ankle. He should be released tomorrow morning. If he managed to stay off of it, that is," Sakura trailed off darkly. Injured Uchihas were enormously difficult, injured Shisui was impossible! He spent half his time flirting with the nurses and the other half disobeying doctor's orders. Even the memory of the frustration was enough to start a vein throbbing in Sakura's oversized forhead.

"Ah." Something flickered in the shinobi's dark eyes. It wasn't red, so it wasn't his bloodline limit, but it looked dangerous all the same.

"Well," Sakura stopped at the corner, her smile stretching even wider. "I will leave you to it then, Uchiha-san. Tell your mother I said hello."

With a polite bow, she turned around and started down the street.

"Enjoy your evening, Haruno."

She could feel Itachi's stare burning between her shoulder blades, felt the slowly receding wave of his barely repressed chakra and suppressed a shiver. Sasuke-kun was intense on his own, but his brother was just unnerving. No one should be that powerful.

Not for the first time, Sakura resented the three flights of steps to her apartment. Her hand trembled around the door knob. "Dammit!"

She forgot to pick up soldier pills.

The medic cursed the Uchiha as she stumbled inside, promising herself that she would go grocery shopping tomorrow after she'd had some sleep. Maybe the shower could wait.

She had to brace herself against the wall to pull off her shoes, her feet throbbed with every painful step as she crossed the floor. She needed to clean her apartment again, there were more books on the floor than on her shelves.

She scrubbed a damp washcloth over her face to remove the remaining mission debris from her skin and brushed her teeth.

Everything else could wait.

Her clothes landed in a crumpled heap next to the hamper; she'd fix that later.

She pulled her stuffed onigiri, Umeboshi, into her arms and slipped into a deeper sleep than a shinobi should.

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Unacceptable.

His lips tightened in a frown as he took in the circles under her eyes. Her chakra reserves were very low; she was operating at barely twenty percent. She shouldn't have left her apartment, let alone taken a mission in this condition. Her pale skin looked sallow and he could see the slight delay in her reactions. Her steps were slightly uneven, her breathing was heavier than it should've been.

His sharingan activated, taking in every detail of the medic.

The minute trembling in her limbs frustrated him.

Not at her, never at her, but at her teammates for allowing her to partake in a mission when she was obviously pushed to her limit.

Disappointment pulsed in his chest when she called him by his surname, though her small shiver at the sound of his voice pleased him. She was so sensitive, so aware of him that she reacted even in her exhaustion. Selfishly, he allowed small waves of his chakra to slip from his control, to brush along her skin the way his fingers desperately wanted to. He took no small pleasure in how her skin pebbled.

If she reacted that way to aspects of his person that were unconscious, his voice, his aura, how would she react to his more focused attentions? His hands tracing her body, his lips tasting her skin and learning her shape with his tongue, his bare form tangling with hers, the slide of his flesh inside her as he held her long into the night?

He felt a small amount of frustration at the fake smile that distorted her expression as she forced herself to make small talk with him, though it amused him to see the snap of her temper in her eyes at the antics of his rowdy cousin. He wanted to see that anger directed at him, wanted to be the sole focus of her attention, even if it was in temper. Though he had other methods to...satiate her ire. His muscles tensed as she mumbled a polite good night and walked away, her gait just shy of clumsy, her small feet scraping over the stones as she forced one foot in front of the other.

Impatience sank unrelenting claws into his chest.

This could not be allowed to continue.

She would work herself into an early grave.

Technically, visiting hours were over in the hospital, though the nurse was only too eager to make an exception for him. Her tittering grated on his nerves, as did her dereliction of responsibility. He imagined Sakura's livid face as her staff violate policy. Clan patients were quartered in a separate wing of the hospital than civilians or other shinobi. In deference to their station as well as a means of protection. Some bloodline limits could be volatile along with the injured, often disoriented patients. The Uchiha had their own suite of private rooms, a condition of a rather generous gift towards the building's refurbishment.

Shisui was staring out the window, not even pretending to be asleep when his younger cousin stepped into the room on silent feet. Itachi set a bundle, a collection of snacks from the Uchiha matriarch, on the small table next to the bed. Shisui's left leg was heavily bandaged from knee to toe, to keep the bone in position as it healed.

The elder Uchiha watched his cousin levelly as the clan heir stared at the bandages. "You're trying to activate the wrong bloodline limit, we aren't Hyuuga."

Itachi snorted. "How much longer before you are released?"

"Officially?" Shisui tried to flex his foot, but the bandage and split didn't bend. "Not until next week, but I can usually convince a couple of nurses to sign me out early."

He flashed a crooked grin at his cousin. "Especially, since Cherry Blossom has the next few days off. Walking out of here should be a breeze."

"Days off?"

"Yep, word is the Hokage 'suggested' her apprentice take a vacation." One of the benefits of flirting with the nurses, was learning all of the hospital gossip. It was almost a kinky form of reconnaissance.

Itachi seemed to be thinking something over, so Shisui was quick to add. "Of course, that hasn't stopped the staff from taking bets on what time the 'Pink Demon' is going to show up tomorrow. Kaede-chan is convinced she'll show up like nothing happened, Fumiko-san thinks 'Haruno-senpai' will try for half a day, then 'forget' to clock out and-"

"Shisui."

The other man chuckled quietly, shaking his head. "Her work habits are nearly as bad as yours...speaking of habits, it's about time for her to leave for the day, isn't it?"

"Ah."

"Waited for her outside, didn't you?" Shisui clucked knowingly. "You know, what if you just asked her out like a normal person? I mean, it's probably not as stimulating as stalking your little brother's teammate from a distance, but I don't think the world would end," he shrugged. "Who knows? You guys could hit it off-"

Itachi glowered at his best friend. "Or she will make excuses out of misplaced loyalty to my brother and continue to run herself into the ground."

"So what? Women play hard to get all the time, you just have to be patient and take your time-"

"I can't wait anymore." Breaking stoicism, Itachi closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could still see her fragile form, limping with exhaustion. Going home to nothing more than a dark apartment instead of being welcomed as future matriarch by his clan. "She's going to collapse."

Shisui sighed. His cousin always had to do things the difficult way. He'd seen Itachi lie motionless for hours, waiting for a target to appear, but something about Sakura Haruno brought out an almost desperate instinct in the prodigy. It would be funny, if it didn't have the potential for catastrophic consequences. "What do you want me to do?"

"Get yourself released by tomorrow. She should be easily convinced." Itachi smirked. "Apparently, you're a menace."

"Me? That's a lot of nerve coming from you! At least I've never made a nurse cry."

If it weren't for twenty plus years of clan breeding drilled into his head, Itachi would have rolled his eyes. What did he care if some nurse was disappointed that he was not interested in a sponge bath? For the third time in as many hours.

Shisui's face lost amusement. "Itachi, she's young. She won't want-"

"It's not about what she wants. It's what she needs."

The Uchiha heir left the room as silently as he'd entered it, leaving Shisui to run a frustrated hand through his hair. His cousin was relentless. It's what made him a brilliant ninja, but he had a feeling it could make him a certain medic's nightmare.

Good luck, Sakura-chan. You're going to need it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

She did not lock her door.

Not that the cheap contraption would deter anyone; he cast a withering look at the useless thing as he stepped silently through the doorway, sending out minute waves of chakra out.

No traps.

A slight scowl of displeasure tightened his face as he stepped inside. He didn't know if it was a by-product of her exhaustion, or the naivety that she would be safe in her home village, but Hokage's apprentice or no, such a lack of basic precaution was inexcusable. The ANBU Captain took in the dim, dingy surroundings, and something squeezed in his chest. He'd never been on the receiving end of having his heart torn out, but he imagined it was feel similar.

Since becoming independent from her civilian parents, he knew that she was supporting herself with a medic's salary, supplemented with missions. He knew not to expect luxury, not the sort that the Uchiha surrounded themselves with, but to see her living in such squalor...

The beaten, second hand sofa looked ready to collapse. There were more cushions on the floor than on the seats. The misshapen lumps that were once pillows squashed nearly flat, decorated the cheap carpet surrounding the low, battered table.

Books were everywhere.

Some were open with half scrawled handwriting filling in the margins. Others were closed with notes or even pens serving as bookmarks. There was a stack of scrolls on the floor. He lifted the first, careful not to upset the pyramid, and unfurled it. The paper appeared to be the anatomical map of chakra pathways. Specifically, a human eye. More books burdened the worn, rickety kitchen table. The top book seemed to be a detailed account of how to urge a blocked or corrupted chakra pathway back into operation. The second was a surgeon's account on how bloodline limits affected muscles and organs overtime.

The kitchen, looked as though it was barely used. His mind immediately drew a comparison to the kitchen in the Uchiha main house, the surfaces gleaming and his mother's warm smile of greeting. This kitchen belonged in an abandoned building. The cupboard held mismatched pottery, apart from two matching cups resting on a shelf alone. No teapot, just a box of cheap tea bags. Maddeningly, her pantry was empty apart from a plastic container of cup ramen. Miso flavored. He had to work a little harder to suppress his roiling chakra.

The refrigerator held only a withered apple and a small package of pickled plums. Dark eyes narrowed on the date. Expired pickled plums.

Irritation pulsed steadily in his temples. Did she have a death wish? Or was this personal neglect evidence of something deeper.

He slowly closed the door to the refrigerator, plunging the apartment into darkness once more.

Leave no trace. Leave no trace.

He repeated the mantra for infiltration assignments. It was too early to give the game away now, by throwing away rotten food to prevent her from eating it. Or by allowing his angry aura to wake her. Or her neighbors.

Soundless footsteps moved down the cramped hallway and into a bedroom roughly the size of a closet. The small dresser still had drawers open, like someone in a hurry jerked them open and forgot to close them. A pale green sleeve dangled over the edge of one drawer. He hadn't seen her in anything other than her famous red vest, or mint colored hospital scrubs; he wondered what she liked to wear. Did she like over-sized items to bundle up, making her look even more delicate? Or did she prefer softer, more clinging fabrics?

Saving the idea to revisit later, Itachi returned to surveying her living space. A picture frame rested on the windowsill. He saw his younger brother and the Uzumaki on either side of His Blossom with the Copy nin in the background, still immersed in his ever-present orange book.

The other door in the room led to a very small bathroom. He could see a pale pink wash cloth draped over the chipped bathroom sink. The harsh, almost chemical smell of whatever soap she was using clung to the still damp, threadbare towel draped over the ancient towel rack. Her toothbrush was starting to fray, the bristles pressed out, either from frustration or over use.

Still more books littered the floor in haphazard stacks resembling a bibliophilic metropolis. Or perhaps an impromptu obstacle course. There was no desk, no chair. What little furniture she had was obviously very worn and shabby.

A small, almost child sized futon, faded with age was rolled out against the far wall. The blankets had been kicked off by restless exhausted feet, revealing pale, slender legs to a shining red gaze. Her hair was wet at the ends, almost rose colored, lightening to pale pink strands fanning out over the lone pillow and obscuring the gentle curve of her cheek. Her thin arms wrapped tightly around a triangular pillow of some sort.

Absurd as it was, the Itachi felt a twinge of envy towards an inanimate object, how it enjoyed the unconscious trust of her embrace while he could only watch. As if to drive the point home, Sakura mumbled and nuzzled the pillow, holding it closer lovingly. Her brow was slightly furrowed; he could see slight twitching as her eyes moved behind delicate veined lids. His blossom was dreaming. The urge to touch her surged so strongly in him, his fingers ached.

Mumbling again, this time it was almost a whimper, Sakura clutched the pillow tightly for a moment before her breath blew out in a huff, and rolling over onto her back. The thin white material of the top she wore was thin enough to be transparent. Highlighting instead of concealing the shape of her nipples. It molded to her high breasts, and the slender lines of her waist, the hem ending just below her belly button, baring a flat expanse of smooth, creamy belly before a small pair of cotton panties concealed her most private flesh from his predatory gaze.

The animal part of him, wanted to drag her into his arms, pull her from slumber, swallow her gasp of surprise and devour each subsequent moan. He could shred that tempting shirt with barely a thought, baring her sensitive mounds to his calloused hands and hungry mouth. He wanted to feel her small fingers tangling in his hair. Wanted to feel her arching against him, gasping his name, before pushing his head to trace the lines of her abdomen with his tongue until he reached her slick thighs and the softness between them. The other part of him wanted to cradle her in his arms and take her home, his home, where she belonged. He wanted to feed her, watch her face light up with delight as she consumed something hot and nourishing. He wanted to bathe her, tracing delicate, spring scented wash along her tired body with gentle fingers until she relaxed. Then he wanted to wrap her in one of his yukata and stroke her to sleep on his chest as they lay in his futon. Her breath tickling his throat while he traced the Uchiha crest on her back.

He forced himself to remain still. It was too soon.

She didn't know him yet, didn't know how badly she needed him, how much he could and would do for her. What being with him would mean.

Crouching next to the futon, Itachi bent his head until his lips were nearly brushing her temple.

"I'm going to take such good care of you." He promised, disappearing without the customary calling card of crow's feathers.

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His jutsu carried him to the edge of the Uchiha compound, and he walked the long path to his family home, enjoying the silence and peace of the quiet, orderly homes.

His own home was dark, but not cold. He saw a plate of wrapped rice balls on the counter, a sign his mother knew he would be late. He placed them in the well stocked refrigerator, appetite diminished after visiting Sakura's apartment. He knew she was hungry, she had to be. It was wrong that someone who gave so much, had so little. Especially when she deserved so much more.

His bedroom faced the garden, overlooking the complex and part of the village. His dark blue futon was turned down, waiting for him. He removed his shinobi gear, replacing it with a soft, sleeping yukata. The band slid easily from his hair and he rubbed the back of his scalp to ease the tension from having his hair pulled back all day. He reclined on the futon, hands folded on his stomach as he stared at the ceiling.

He was missing something. He assumed that she was getting proper nutrition at home at the very least, but that kitchen had seen nothing but hot water in weeks, if that. How was she doing it? Pushing your limits was a quality in all dedicated ninja; the determination to push past discomfort in the name of furthering a goal was one thing. Shinobi were expected to support their entire body weight and more on just their fingertips, walk on water, and cross enormous distances at incredible speed. Without false modesty, Itachi knew that he was one of the best, but not even he could ignore physical limitations for weeks on end without-

A thought tugged at the back of his mind, followed by a strain of disappointed anger. He hoped he was wrong. She couldn't, would not do that. Not as a medic, she couldn't possibly-

He needed to visit her office. And hear what Shisui thought.

Surely, she wasn't that foolish.

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Sakura grumbled as she studied her hastily scrawled grocery list. She had hoped to jump on the paperwork she could sense accumulating on her desk, unfortunately the Hokage knew her apprentice better than the pinkette thought.

"Rest means rest, Sakura," Tsunade steered the embarrassed medic down the hall, in full view of the gossip factory of other medics and nurses. "I'll see you after your vacation."

So, there went her first idea. She wanted to hit something, train away her frustration, but right now that would only be counter-productive. Kami forbid she collapse on the training field only to be found by some well-meaning Samaritan. Or worse, a fellow shinobi. The edge of her sandal caught on a loose stone and Sakura stumbled, but didn't fall. She refused to fall in front of civilians.

 _I am not weak, dammit!_

Brutally short nails bit into her palms, as she minutely shook her head to clear it.

 **No, but we are exhausted. Just take the break, eat something, get some sleep, then get back to business.**

The smell of fresh takoyaki wafted over from a nearby stand, filling her head and making her stomach grumble. The medic gritted her teeth despite her watering mouth. Fried food was the last thing she needed. It would sit heavy, making her sluggish and taking even longer to recover.

She would buy soldier pills first and if she was still hungry by the time she finished shopping, maybe she would pick up some fish to steam to have with plain rice-

 **Ugh, plain rice and steamed fish? Why don't we just eat cardboard?**

 _What's that? You want plain tofu?_

… **.Steamed fish is great!**

With a defiant toss of her weary head, Sakura moved towards the rows of stands and shops.

 _Do I want mackerel?_

 **Tuna's on sale!**

 _Mackerel is cheaper in general and less fatty._

 **Tuna cooks faster! Or we don't have to cook it at all!**

 _That is not sushi grade tuna, and I'm not desperate enough to eat raw, discounted fish._

Sakura reached for the mackerel. Steamed mackerel with rice. Simple. Filling.

 **And BLAND, dammit! Why are we punishing ourselves?!**

 _It's not about punishment, it's about not overindulging. The last thing we need is to be fat along with inept, Pig will have a field day._

"Hey, Forehead!"

 **Speak of the Devil.**

"Where the hell have you been?! We were supposed to hang out last week!"

Sakura racked her memory. Were they?

I thought she was busy with some new guy since she and Shikamaru are on another 'break.'

"Sorry, Pig! I've been busy." The pinkette shrugged and pasted a self-deprecating smile on her face.

The blonde snorted, dragging Sakura towards the exit with her arm around the shorter girl's neck. "A likely story!"

"Pig! Geroff! I need pay for my groceries! Pig!"

To avoid being labeled a shoplifter, Sakura dropped her basket as she was towed outside and into the crowded street. "Where are you taking me?!"

"Lunch. Your treat."

"My treat! Why?"

"Because you stood me up last week."

The blonde kunoichi paused for a moment, releasing her best friend's throat only to link their elbows together so that they could walk side by side instead of a stumbling, diagonal headlock.

"Now shut up! Hinata told me about the cutest little café near here."

 **I have a bad feeling in the pit of my wallet.**

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The little café was pretty cute, to be honest, but Sakura had nearly snorted into her water glass at the thought of Hinata trying to bring Naruto on a date here. There was lace on the table clothes and not a single noodle on the menu.

"Isn't this good?" Ino popped a bite of salad into her mouth.

Sakura forced herself to sip slowly at her soup instead of gulping directly from the bowl like she desperately wanted to do. "Not bad, Pig."

"Anyway, what's up with you?"

"Nothing." Sakura swallowed a thick tendril of seaweed and immediately regretted it as the salty slime slithered down her throat to her shriveled stomach.

Okay…so, just broth from now on…

Ino pushed her half (exactly half) finished plate away. "No, seriously. You look like death warmed over."

"Thanks, I really appreciate that."

"You do! Your bags have bags and if you get any skinnier, you're going to have to shop in the genin department!"

Ino tossed her hair cattily and examined her nails. "I mean, more than you already do. Or have you just given up on bras completely?"

"Hey! Stuff's cheaper there! Unlike the extra charge you pay for plus sizes, Pig!"

Sakura's own teasing glare faded slightly under the weight of her friend's stare. "Honestly, I'm fine. My workload just caught up with me a little bit."

Ino dropped her pretend offended expression to don her 'no bullshit' face.

"A little bit? You're running yourself ragged!"

"I'm fine. I can handle it." She was not ragged, just a little tired.

The blonde girl snorted and twirled the end of her long pony tail. "Yeah, not like you got kicked out this morning or anything."

Sakura felt her shoulders tighten. Despite her screaming stomach, she pushed the soup away. The waiter appeared, as if he'd been watching, to remove their plates. "I wasn't kicked out. I'm on 'vacation'. I needed to catch up on my research anyway."

Ino opened her mouth to retort that if Sakura was on 'vacation' then she wouldn't say it with the same tone most people reserved for 'house arrest', but her expression softened as she took in her friend's drawn, exhausted appearance.

Her pink hair was choppy, as if she cut it herself, the ends were split and dry. Her skin looked dull and the shadows under her eyes looked more like bruises. She was in desperate need of a spa day. And night. Hell, a spa week, would just begin to cover the surface damage. The Yamanaka heiress nearly cringed when she saw the medic's nails. Where was her pride as a woman?

The pinkette was delicately built anyway, but she looked dangerously fragile; her iconic red top now looked like an over-sized sack. The bones in her finely built wrists were stretched against paper thin skin. "I'm just worried about you, Forehead. Don't burn yourself out."

"I won't."

Sakura forced herself to smile again, and Ino's eyes narrowed on her chapped lips.

"Of course you won't; I won't let you. Now, I'm a good friend and good friends deserve a piece of cake. Where did that waiter go?"

"Cake?" Sakura's stomach clenched in want, but her gorge rose simultaneously at the thought of sugar. "I thought you were on a diet, Pig?"

"I am, but a cheat day now and then is important. Plus, I'll need the sugar rush for my next mission!"

"Mission? You? Don't tell me you're going alone?"

"I am the ONLY one qualified for the task."

Sakura's brows furrowed in worry for her best and only female friend. (She and Hinata just didn't click.)

"Only one? What is it? Infiltration?"

"Nope! Transformation."

The waiter interrupted then with a dessert menu. Ino wasted no time in ordering some kind of berry something or other with fondant, and bullied Sakura until the other girl caved and ordered a coffee.

"What d'you mean transformation? Long term henge?"

Ino rolled her eyes. Sakura really was tired if she couldn't recognize jokes anymore. "I'm talking about you, stupid! Turning you back into a human being should qualify me for ANBU!"

Embarrassed, Sakura flushed and tugged at a loose thread in the table cloth. "I'm not that bad."

"Pssh!" Ino waved the excuse away. "You're hopeless. If I didn't know I could fix you, I'd refuse to be seen with you. Luckily, I am accustomed to working with next to nothing where you're concerned."

"Shut up, Pig."

"You know you love me."

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He enjoyed watching her shop.

The slight purse of her lips as she compared prices and quality, the calculating gleam in her eyes as she haggled with a vendor, the flash of her small white teeth sinking into the soft flesh of her full lower lip when she found something she wanted.

He wanted to carry her basket, walk beside her and listen to her chatter, buying her anything she wanted, regardless of her protests. He wanted to bicker about what to have for supper, see the realization on her face as she noticed his teasing.

Her distinctive red outfit moved among the crowd, easily traceable, but he imagined her in navy. Her pink hair pulled up to reveal the graceful curve of her neck and the uchiwa fan sewn into the collar at her nape.

He tensed when she walked into a shinobi supply store, sharingan activating to track her movements, but it receded when a taller kunoichi with long blonde hair almost comically dragged the medic out of the markets, towing her towards a small, rather…embellished café.

Her body language was odd. Sakura seemed genuinely happy to see her friend, but there was a slight curl in her delicate shoulders and a stiffness to her arms. The Yamanaka heiress chattered almost nonstop, her hands fluttering and waving as she told some story. The contrast was startling. Despite her vibrant coloring, Sakura looked almost transparent, a shadow of herself. She picked at the soup she ordered, scooping out the tofu first, stirring the broth first clockwise, then counterclockwise, her face scrunched adorably as she swallowed seaweed that had attached itself unseen to the bottom of her spoon.

The blonde girl was blunt, almost deliberately insulting, something gripped his chest as he watched his blossom curl into herself protectively. She felt inadequate to the Yamanaka girl, he could tell. Ridiculous, but rivalry usually was. He was slightly mollified by the concern the blonde kunoichi showed.

Itachi opened his eyes from where he sat underneath a cherry tree, the crow he was using to track Sakura's movement remained on its perch near the café, watching as his pink haired medic cringed to avoid a forkful of icing and strawberry brandished by her friend. He was mildly disappointed that Sakura didn't order a dessert. He wondered if she liked sweets. He wanted to lick the sticky sweet syrup of dango from her lips and watch her blush before she scolded him in a hushed tone to cover her embarrassed pleasure.

The main house was warm and filled with the delicious aromas of his mother's cooking. His little brother was standing next to the counter, still in his jounin gear, obviously just returned from a mission. He looked tired, but none the worse for wear as he stuffed the last bite of a tomato into his mouth. The Uchiha heir allowed his features to soften with relief. "Sasuke, welcome home."

"I'm back."

"Sasuke, go wash up before your father gets home, supper is almost ready." Mikoto smiled at her youngest son, contentedness evident on her face.

"Ah." Sasuke set his plate in the sink before heading upstairs to change.

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"Ne, Sasuke, how are your teammates these days?" Mikoto asked between dainty bites.

"Dobe is Dobe."

"Language in front of your mother." Fugaku rarely bother to contribute to the conversation unless it was a progress report, but he knew his wife's distaste for vulgar language.

"…Naruto is fine. Loud and blonde like always."

"And Sakura-chan? I haven't heard you mention her in a while," The Uchiha matriarch remembered a petite girl with pink hair, though Sasuke had never brought her for a visit.

Sasuke shrugged, lifting a slice of grilled eel to his mouth. "She's at the hospital a lot. Don't see her much, she's probably fine."

Itachi felt his irritation grow. He loved his little brother unconditionally, but sometimes his oblivious immaturity was absurd. "She's part of your team, Sasuke. If you want to be a Captain one day, you must be depended on to see in others what they neglect in themselves."

And be prepared to take action when the neglect reaches a point where intervention is necessary.

Sasuke's shoulders tensed under his brother's criticism. "She's a medic. She would know if something was wrong."

"Why don't we have her over for dinner, Sasuke?" Mikoto was eager to interrupt the tension between the two brothers. "Everyone enjoys a home cooked meal."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his brother in suspicious confusion. Itachi ignored him and sipped his tea quietly. Whatever conclusion his brother drew was inconsequential.

"Gouchiso-sama, Mother." Itachi nodded politely and padded down the hallways towards his room, Sasuke's gaze between his shoulder blades.

 _If you didn't want me to have her, little brother, you should have taken better care of her._

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The office was small and dark, the lack of windows making it look almost like a cell. The desk nearly buried beneath a mountain of files and scrolls. None of them appeared to be hers, but belonged either to the Hokage, or other nurses. An effort appeared to have been made to separate completed work from new assignments, but the system was undermined by the sheer number of papers. A nearly empty mug on one corner contained long cold dregs of instant coffee. The drawers were so full, they were nearly jammed. More file folders, an extra set of scrubs, a cheap container of shower gel, dry shampoo. Clearly, she spent too much time here. He slowly tugged at the bottom right hand drawer, easing it open soundlessly.

Underneath a stack of empty manila folders was a small pill bottle. It wasn't labeled, but he recognized the pills inside.

S-boosters.

True anger tensed his jaw and stung behind his eyes. This explained it. Her suicidal work schedule, her failing health, and the lack of collapse despite depleted chakra levels. This was unacceptable, her system couldn't take much more of this, her body was beginning to buckle under the constant stress of the chemical onslaught she was putting it through. These pills were strictly regulated, available only through prescription. He had taken an S-booster once and while it had allowed him to complete his mission successfully, despite his exhaustion, the resulting crash had taken him out of commission for nearly two days. Her stubbornness was driving her to either steal, or falsify a prescription. She was jeopardizing not only her health, but her reputation and career.

Anger mixed with disappointment and panic, making him feel faintly nauseous. He had no idea how long she'd been taking these. This was no longer a case of her being a workaholic, but a complete neglect of her own needs to the point of self-harm.

His brow furrowed slightly.

She was going to kill herself at this rate.

His hand closed around the bottle, almost wanting to crush it. This ended now. She was not allowed to damage herself, especially not to satisfy some false sense of insecurity.

He would strip every crutch from her, allow her to fall as far as necessary until he caught her. Then, once she was his, he would never let her go. She wouldn't want him to.

She'd be stubborn at first, he knew, it was part of why he wanted her. She was a stunning kunoichi, and had the makings of a brilliant matriarch, but she insisted on squandering her potential on minutia. She would eventually realize this was best. She would learn to trust his judgement, understand that he wanted to be responsible for her.

Pills still clenched in his fist, he left the office.

She would see.

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Sakura pressed the back of her hand to her mouth as she set her shoes down carefully in the hallway of her apartment. Her half empty stomach lurched as she moved, but she refused to throw up, even if it would make her feel better to get the refined sugar out of her system.

She would not throw up.

 **Damn Ino-pig and that stupid strawberry cake!**

She would not throw up.

Nobody forced you to eat it, stupid. Sugar doesn't sit well on an empty stomach and half a dozen spoonfuls of soup didn't cut it apparently…

In her living room. She would not throw up in her living room. Priorities.

She made her way from the entryway, to her crooked, bent sofa. Then she stumbled into her bedroom. Okay, progress. Now, she'll just go to bed and-

"Ow! Shit!"

Nausea momentarily forgotten, the kunoichi hopped on one foot, swearing. Bright green eyes glowered at the heavy tome in the doorway.

'Myopia De-Mystified'

 _Oh yeah…I was working on that._

 **How can you resist a title like that?**

Sakura bent and picked up the book, flipping the switch for the overhead light, before hobbling over to her coffee table, folded her slender legs beneath her, the book landed on the already overburdened table with an ominous thump. Her right hand scrabbled for one of the many pens as she flipped the pen over to the last page she recognized. The diagram in front of her broke down the eye, identifying the different nerve endings and blood vessels. There were several scrolls along the floor with different diagrams, each was copied from a different text. Sakura was certain that an accurate model was somewhere in the middle.

She hadn't dissected someone yet, but she was convinced that the blood vessels and the chakra pathways had to interact almost co-dependently, otherwise, how would chakra exhaustion have such an impact on physical tissue? Or, in the event of bloodline limits, how overuse led to physical and sometimes mental deterioration. She remembered watching Shizune treat Kakashi's migraines from using his borrowed Sharingan.

She knew Sasuke's eyes bothered him too, but those were only two incarnations of what the doujutsu was capable of, but only the Uchiha heir was capable of activating the Mangekyou. Her professional curiosity was at war with her innate wariness of the prodigy. Maybe she could convince shishou to let her see some medical records...

Her pen scratched aimlessly on the corner of her scroll, the three comma marks of the sharingan beginning to form. Sakura ignored the slight shakiness of her hands and shook her head minutely to clear her wavering vision.

She'd just stay up for a few minutes. If she couldn't go to work, she should at least work on a project or two.

It would just be a few minutes.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Where were they?

Shit!

Where were they?

Sakura dug through her drawers, slinging pens, scrolls, and crumpled reports into the floor.

Nothing.

A similar ransack through her medicine cabinet yielded similar results.

 _Dammit!_

She swept a hand through her pink strands, wincing when she snagged on a tangle. This couldn't be happening, not now of all times. Shizune was back to overseeing the hospital and somehow managed to convince Tsunade that Sakura should be allowed back to work 'Just for observation'. Whether she meant that Sakura was there to take notes or be kept out of trouble was unclear. The medic wasn't complaining though, at least she was out of her apartment.

She hated being idle.

It was a slippery slope from idle to useless.

Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes to block out her wavering vision. When her eyes were open, she saw black spots, when she closed them, the spots became multicolored.

She resisted the urge to shift her weight as the floor seemed to roil beneath her. The cafeteria toast and tea she forced herself to eat that morning was a serious mistake. Shaking her head only made it worse.

After a few minutes, her head stopped swimming and she could think clearly.

 _I'm pretty sure there are caffeine pills or something in the break room, I'll just take a couple and pick up the real stuff on my way home. Nobody will know._

 **You know, eventually somebody is going to notice your addiction to those things.**

 _I am not addicted! I just…need a boost. It's not any different than the massive amounts of coffee Shizune drinks._

 **Just keep telling yourself that.**

 _Shut. Up._

She wasn't addicted. She wasn't. She didn't need them, she just, appreciated the effects for the long hours she worked. It wasn't like she was wasting away in an opium den. She just used a mid-shift pick me up. She clenched her trembling hands into fists and rolled her shoulders.

She was fine.

With a confidence in her step that she didn't feel, Sakura left her office, headed toward the break room.

"Haruno-san, Haruno-san!"

The small, mousy nurse nearly bowled over her pink haired superior.

"Yes, what is it, Miki?"

"It's Uchiha-san, he keeps getting out of bed and I told him to stay there because you told me to and if he gets up he's not going to get any better and I know you want him to get better, but if he won't stay there I can't make him and-"

"Alright, alright. I'll handle it. You go finish your rounds, alright?" The fast chatter only added to buzzing in the pinkette's ears.

The girl nodded and scurried away down the hall, leaving Sakura with the Uchiha's chart and a crashing headache.

The pills would have to wait.

Sakura thought it was ridiculous that Clans had their own wing of the hospital. Bloodlines or no, shinobi were shinobi. It was antiquated, elitist bullshit to satisfy the pretentious, outspoken jerks who were concerned that being wounded in the same room with civilian blood would somehow taint the Clan lines. She snorted and muttered darkly under her breath as she pushed opened the door into the Clan wing, nearly stomping her way to the Uchiha suite.

It was like the world was conspiring against her.

Sasuke's brother distracted her from getting soldiers pills two nights ago, Ino-pig dragged her out of the market yesterday. She couldn't find her special stash in her office because there was so much work on her desk, and now she couldn't even catch a break because of a spoiled clan brat.

The door to Shisui's room flew open with a bang. "Don't even think about it."

The dark haired ANBU flinched almost comically. "Ne, Sakura-chan, don't be so scary, it's not good bedside manner."

"If you would behave, I think you'd be shocked at how my bedside manner would improve."

A dark wave of distinctive Uchiha hair fell over one eye as Shisui looked over his shoulder at the fuming pink haired medic.

"As tempting as that would be, I really must go-!" He flinched as he tried to put weight on his broken ankle, then tried to play it off with a chuckle.

"Shisui-san, either you stay in bed and heal, or I'll break the other one and then unless you can body flicker balanced on your hands, then you'll be out of commission either way."

"You sound more and more like the Hokage every day." Sakura's dark aura lightened slightly as she preened under the compliment and made a note at the bottom of the chart. "Perfect. Now, I'll send Nurse Miki over with some lunch for you, then Medic Kaede will complete your scheduled healing later this afternoon and you should be ready to leave tomorrow morning."

She raised an eyebrow at the sulking man. "Alright?"

"Sakura-chan, please! For me? Just this once and I won't complain next time, promise!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "That's what you said last time."

All shinobi acted the same. Like it was some kind of punishment to be in the hospital. It was infuriating.

"Sakura-chan," Shisui whined, sounding more like an academy brat than an ANBU ranked adult. "Come on, just patch me up and I'll be out of your hair. I'll even promise to take it easy until the next mission. I'll wrap it and everything."

How eyes capable of reducing missing-nin to screaming toddlers were capable of producing a puppy dog gaze, was creepy. Then again, creepy pretty much summed up Uchiha. She debated telling Shisui to shut up and canceling his healing for today to teach him some patience, but that would honestly be more trouble than it was worth.

Sakura sighed. "Alright, alright. Just this once."

Shisui's ankle was still black and blue, swollen twice its size. Pale, slender fingers delicately brushed over the abused and tender skin. "Your record says that the break is along your fibula, though there was evidence of trauma to your talus as well. I am going to perform a diagnostic before repairing the crack. You should feel some tingling, but nothing should hurt you. The important thing is that you don't fight my chakra, okay?"

Sweat beaded on Sakura's slightly oversized forehead as she concentrated. Come on, come on.

Finally, a faint green glow emitted from the tips of her slightly burned fingertips, Sakura nearly sighed in relief, but focused soothing the bruised and swollen tissue. The bones themselves were healing fairly well, but Sakura went ahead and sealed the last bit of hairline fissure along the small bone separating the heel from the fibula anyway. The tendons were next, the repairing there was slower, muscle was always more difficult to repair. She could feel her fingertips burning, but didn't stop. Slowly, Shisui's skin faded from dark blue to a lighter purple before Sakura's chakra flickered and gave out. "There you go, just sore enough to remind you to be more careful!"

The fake edges of her smile tugged at her face and she ignored the burning in her exhausted lungs, refusing to pant. The pink haired medic tried to stand, but black spots collided and became swirls of ink across her vision and the world tilted.

"Sakura-chan?" The older Uchiha caught the kunoichi before she crumpled to the floor. Bare of his usual amusement, his face creased with worry. She was too light, almost like holding a child. This close to her, he could see the dark circles under her eyes, exhaustion in her slightly trembling limbs. He wasn't sure if taking her home was better, or whether this needed to run its course.

Seconds later, her lids fluttered and she groaned. Blinking furiously, Sakura's vision cleared to see Shisui's concerned face. "Are you alright? Do you need some water? Should I call a nurse?"

"No!" Sakura forced herself into a standing position on wobbly legs. "I-I'm fine, Shisui-san. Really. Just a little tired, I think. Nothing some coffee can't cure!"

Her laugh fell flat, sounding more like gasping.

The Uchiha didn't look convinced, but didn't press her. He pulled on his sandal and moved towards the door. "Thanks."

"You're welcome Shisui-san. Just promise to take better care of yourself."

Shisui, almost to the door, paused. His shoulders tensed and he turned to face her with an echo of his concerned look, but it was more worried, almost anxious. "You too, Sakura-chan." _Or someone may do it for you…_

Sakura shook her head, then tried to cover her immediate regret with another weak chuckle. "Tsunade already put me on break, I'll be okay. Just tired, promise."

Shisui's lips quirked in a something too full of pity to be a smile. "See you later, Sakura-chan."

Then he was gone.

The exhausted medic dragged herself to the cafeteria and washed down twice the recommended dose of soldier pills with black coffee that was almost like tar. The buzz would last through her shift.

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Hopefully.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Each kunai hit the target with deadly accuracy, blades burying up to the hand grip. The Uchiha heir barely looked as he threw blade after blade.

"Didn't you just have those sharpened?" Shisui leaned against the target post that did not resemble a pincushion to watch his younger cousin. To a stranger, the ANBU captain was unchanged, his patrician Uchiha features unscrutable, his movements flawless, but to his cousin and closest friend… Shisui narrowed his eyes.

"I thought they weren't releasing you until tomorrow." Itachi didn't bother looking at his cousin.

"I managed to convince Sakura-chan to patch me up."

Thud. "She should not be at work today."

Shisui blew out a breath and ruffled his bangs. This was a rough situation, he wasn't sure whether to congratulate his cousin on his good taste, or pity Sakura for catching Itachi's eye. "You don't own her, Itachi. She can make her own choices-"

K-rakk!

The kunai split the already abused post, the two halves falling to the ground with a muffled thump. Shisui saw red swirling in the depths of his younger cousin's eyes. "She is killing herself."

Shisui snorted. "She's a workaholic, you should understand that better than-"

A small bundle flew at his face, Shisui caught it before it broke his nose, then examined the bottle.

S-boosters.

He felt his eyes widen and dread sank into his stomach like a weight. "Don't tell me-"

"They were in her office."

"Ah, shit." Shisui pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand. "Look, we don't know how long she's been taking these-"

"Shisui."

"Itachi." The normally laid back Uchiha's tone filled with steel. "She will hate you if you do this. You can't just waltz in and take control of her like she's a toy-"

"Hn."

Shisui took a moment to look at his younger cousin who was staring at the obliterated targets as if determined not to meet his gaze. "Itachi-"

He broke off and looked at the obliterated targets, a sure sign of his younger cousin's agitation. "I can't change your mind, but I'm asking you as your friend: Take. It. Slow. If you're worried she's not eating…take her to dinner or something. Get a better evaluation. Don't rush her; she'll fight and you're going to have a hard enough time with her team-" he emphasized "-and the Hokage."

His cousin still wasn't looking at him, and Shisui could only hope he was listening. Itachi folded his kunai pouch and turned away from the destruction he'd created. "Dinner first?"

Shisui sighed and nodded. "Something quick, get her used to being around you."

Itachi seemed to think for a moment, then nodded. "Shisui-"

"I know, but try it my way first."

The Clan Heir nodded and walked towards the splintered post. Shisui watched him and decided it was a plus that he didn't mention Sakura collapsing after she tried to help him. Itachi's nerves were frayed as it was, if he realized how badly she was hurting herself...

 _Poor Sakura. She has no idea what's coming._

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There was a muffled buzzing in her ears and Sakura gritted her teeth and rubbed her aching temples.

The rest of the day seemed to be moving quickly. There was a pile of paperwork on her desk, a blessing in disguise, as even her handwriting was starting to become illegible in her exhaustion.

Three more hours.

Three more hours to the end of her shift.

"Haruno-sempai?"

The edges of her mouth pulled up in the approximation of a smile. "Yes?"

"Um, I-I finished my reports for the week. W-would y-you mind checking them before I g-give them to Shizuna-sempai?"

"Sure. Just leave them there."

Miki grinned and all but skipped forward, setting down an immaculate stack of manila folders on the corner of Sakura's overburdened desk. "Thank you, Haruno-Sempai!"

The door to the office closed with a muffled click, but it was enough to make Sakura flinch. Three more hours, just three more hours until-the medic paused and looked at the new addition of work to do.

Five more hours.

Five more hours.

Five more- The pink haired medic, paused and pulled back to cock her head at the most recent note she added to a chart. That was legible, right?

 **Totally.**

 _That's what I thought._

 **But only if you hold your head just like that and have a head injury.**

 _Dammit!_

The resulting bang of Sakura's office door slamming open, nearly made her vomit. The ringing in her ears and the throbbing in her temples rendered her almost shell-shocked as her mentor burst into the cramped back room. The Hokage folded her powerful arms under her generous bust and gave her dry heaving apprentice and unimpressed look. "And just what do you think you're doing?"

"Uh, Shishou! How are you? I was just finishing up a little paperwork before-"

"Don't even start that. You couldn't lie to me when you were twelve, what makes you think you can now?"

Sakura resisted the impulse to say that she couldn't shatter the ground when she was twelve either, but didn't; the Slug Princess might take it as a challenge and then she would really be screwed. "Um"-

"Go home."

"What? But Shishou, I'm already behind and-"

"If I hear one. more. word out of you, then I will personally put you in the ICU. You think you're behind now? Wait until you wake up in three months!"

Sakura winced, as much from the volume of the threat as its intent. Knowing she was beaten, she hung her head and slowly pushed away from her desk.

"I'm not sure what arrogance has taken hold of you for you to ignore direct orders, but this insubordination stops now."

The Hokage slammed the door behind her apprentice and, adding insult to injury, quickly placed a seal on the door. "You are not to set foot in the hospital, in my office, or on a mission until I clear you, understood?"

Miserably, Sakura nodded. This was humiliating, being thrown out of her office like a child. The only saving grace was that it right in between shift changes, so the hallway was empty.

"Good, I'll see in you ten days."

Sakura snapped her head up, ignoring the dancing spots in her vision. Ten days?!

"Open your mouth and it's twenty."

Sakura convinced herself that the burning behind her eyes was from her headache.

She didn't cry.

Twelve year old Sakura cried, not her.

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Her legs felt like she had forgot to take off her training weights and a sharp pain was beginning to crawl up the right side of her jaw to her eye, blurring the vision before sinking behind it and driving into her brain. She swore under her breath. She was close, almost home, then she could just collapse. Almost there, almost there, almost-

For the second time that week, Sakura's exhaustion made her oblivious to her surroundings. The Uchiha watching her, bit back a growl. Enough was enough.

"Haruno-san."

"Uchiha-san!"

The false smile felt like it was going to crack her face. "I hope you're not needing a medic?"

He shook his head.

"You released Shisui this afternoon."

"Yes."

"This is the second time that he was hospitalized in as many months, is he starting to lose his efficiency?"

What?

"No, no of course not!" She was quick to jump to the defense of her patient. "It's his ankle. He broke it badly a couple of months ago, didn't wait until it healed properly before going back to active duty and the weakened bone cracked under the stress."

"So, if he had 'taken a break' so to speak, he would be performing at optimal capacity now?"

"Right. Bones are different than scrapes or cuts, they take time to heal." It was common knowledge, or it would be if more shinobi would just take their treatment, dammit!

"So, in your medical opinion, rest is necessary for a successful career."

"Exactly, it-" Sakura trailed off mid-sentence, a particularly sharp pain knifing across her brain, making her close her mouth as nausea roiled in her stomach. "Excuse me, Uchiha-san, but if you're worried about his recovery, maybe you should-"

Warm fingers slid over her temples, making her stiffen. What the hell?

Her chakra flared, or tried to flare, as she rebelled against the sudden flood of invasive chakra, then stopped as her headache began to fade. The blinding pain in her skull fading to an annoying twinge at the base of her skull. her vision cleared and the curdling in her stomach faded.

She stared at Sasuke's brother in shock. "What-how?"

"It is practical to be able to treat such symptoms."

Right, Uchiha migraines were no joke. Even with only one Sharingan, Kakashi was not immune and Sasuke's were enough that she had seen the Uchiha vomit from the intensity, though he had blamed it on Naruto's cooking afterwards. "Er..thank you. I should, probably get-"

"Something to eat."

"Huh?"

"The headache will be worse if you sleep on an empty stomach."

The Uchiha gestured towards the warm light of one a small restaurant. "Here, I'm told they have excellent tempura."

She stared at him helplessly for a moment. What?

"Haruno-san. After you,"

He waited for the medic to scuttle past him towards the shop before he followed. She was so wary it made him smirk, but his worry still tightened in his chest. He was barely able to make that headache retreat, it was nearly as bad as one of his own. If he hadn't been there and she'd gone home alone...

He knew the S-boosters could cause seizures or stroke in rare cases.

Her behavior could not be allowed to continue.

Tempura was Sakura's favorite. Crispy, crunchy, oily golden goodness. With noodles. And broth, lots of broth.

The fact that Itachi, Sasuke's brother that she'd spoken to maybe four times, somehow knew this was enough to make Sakura stare suspiciously at the ANBU Captain over her menu.

What was he playing at?

Why did he even care?

Giving up the pretense of choosing a dish, Sakura put the menu down and picked up her cup of hot tea. The toasted brown rice floating on top brushed against her upper lip, tickling slightly. The tea itself was slightly nutty warming her throat and chest pleasantly as she swallowed. Her eyes closed reflexively; it felt so good to have something on her stomach.

 **See? Eating is good for you.**

 _Shut up. I'm fine._

 **Keep telling yourself that.**

The Uchiha was watching her over the rim of his tea cup, the sharingan was thankfully absent, but his stare was still unnerving. Everything about Uchiha Itachi was unnerving; probably because most of what she knew was via impassioned rants from Sasuke (or, as close to ranting as Sasuke did anyway) about his "crazy aniki".

"Ne," Sakura stopped and swallowed. "Why are you doing this?"

"You don't eat enough. Even the best shinobi know when to recuperate."

Sakura snorted. "Since when? I've had to manhandle some of Konoha's best shinobi into bed, Uchiha-san."

There was that flash of sharingan again. Apparently, the ANBU captain did not like to be interrupted. "Why? If they can perform their duties, why bother forcing them to rest?"

Sakura opened her mouth to retort before the earlier conversation about Shisui played in her ears. She felt a vein begin to pulse in her head.

"Do you think you are better than other shinobi?"

"What?" She blinked at him, nonplussed. "Of course not!"

"You do. Otherwise why would you encourage rest among your fellow shinobi, but refuse to take it for yourself?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "It's different. The shinobi that come to the hospital…are usually carried. They need time to recover physically and emotionally before being cleared for active duty again. Everyone needs time after a mission, I'm just trying to keep up with my paperwork, Uchiha-san. It's not that big a deal-"

Two heavy bowls clanked slightly as they were set before the two ninja. The grinning employee set two dishes of tempura beside the bowls, chirping "Please enjoy!" before disappearing back into the crowd.

The savory scent hovered in the air above the table, and Sakura nearly groaned.

It was a bowl of temptation.

Crisp vegetables and thick whorls of sweet, chewy udon noodles swimming in salty broth. Fresh golden tempura sat next to a small dish of sweet, savory sauce; she could almost taste the crunch of panko and oil between her teeth.

"Eat, Haruno-san. We will talk later."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

He picked up his own chopsticks with an elegant flick of his wrist, gesturing to her bowl. "Eat."

True to her stubborn nature, Sakura had the sudden urge to shove her bowl away and continue to argue.

 _It's the principle…_

 **What principle? Eat the damn soup!**

Sakura looked up at the Uchiha, who held her gaze evenly, gesturing again to the bowl in front of her. "Eat. Or your headache might come back."

His tone was the strangely concerned, like she didn't know how to treat her own aches, that made her want to dump the bowl on his arrogant head. Gritting her teeth, the medic pressed her hands together and mumbled a thank you before using her chopsticks to lift a piping hot piece of tempura to her lips. She mostly bit back the moan in her throat as the salty crunch gave way to sweet, tender shrimp.

A sort of haze took over then, rendering her deaf to everything but the desperation of her starving body until she was setting the empty bowl back on the table with a satisfying thunk. Her tongue traced quickly over her lips, removing the last traces of salty broth. She felt full, almost sloshy, but warmer and more comfortable than she could remember being in a long time. She coughed in embarrassment and flushed, grabbing at her now lukewarm tea and chugging the contents. Great, she made a fool of herself in front of a Clan Heir. She set down her tea cup and stared at the ANBU Captain, almost daring him to say something snide.

He just returned her gaze, unflappably, his bowl already pushed to the side. He must've asked for more tea at some point, since she could see curls of steam rising from his cup. "Do you want anything else?"

"No thanks. I think I ate too much actually."

He nodded. "Wait here just a moment."

He stood and disappeared into the crowd. For a moment, she thought he was leaving her with the bill, but that was probably her paranoia after years of grabbing dinner with Naruto and Kakashi. Even Sai had tried it once thinking it was a part of bonding. Ugh, boys.

"Haruno." Itachi stood next to her seat, pulling her from her inner ramblings. "Are you ready?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. What's my half?" She fumbled with her pockets as she found her feet, feeling the rather thin folder of her wallet near her right hip.

"It is unnecessary."

"What?" They couldn't just leave without paying, clan or not!

"I have settled the bill. Now, let me take you home."

"No, wait." Her brain, sodden with pleasure over finally having a hot meal, struggled to keep up. "Er, thanks for dinner, but I can walk myself home."

"Hn."

"Really, I'm fine." This was already one of her more humiliating days, she didn't need to compound by having and ANBU operative escort her home because she was too pathetic to take care of herself.

"Hn."

I&S&I&S&I&S&I&S&I&S&I&S

"I can walk by myself."

"Hn."

He was impossible and Sakura wanted to wipe the smug smile off his face. Preferably with her fist. Put him in the hospital and force him to 'recuperate.'

Despite her full stomach, her muscles still trembled with exhaustion, she doubted she could take on a genin, let alone her teammate's ANBU captain of a brother. Still, if she weren't an adult, she'd stamp her feet like a toddler. However, that wasn't productive, and it was beneath her.

Her footsteps were heavier because she was tired, that's all.

Her building was dark already; it must be later than she thought. These stairs seemed to get longer every time she had to climb them, but she would drop dead before the Uchiha would see her pant.

A familiar relief filled her when she saw her battered front door before she straightened her shoulders and turned around to look at the taller Uchiha. "Thank you."

She just turned back to her door, pulling her key out of her pocket; luck was on her side and for once the ancient lock didn't stick.

"Haruno-san, when is your next day off?"

She paused, one foot slightly lifted to step into the safety of her tiny, cramped sitting room. Her hair brushed against her collar, the messy bun she'd attempted that morning long since fallen, as she looked over shoulder. Only years of practice dodging projectiles and willfully walking into dangerous situations kept her from flinching. When did he get so close? Was he trying to follow her in or something?

Wait...

A dark, unflattering flush crawled up her collarbones to her cheeks and Sakura had never been more thankful for the missing bulb in the second floor hallway. He wasn't...there was no way he would...Sasuke would flip...his parents...

She was clearly delusional.

"My mother would like to invite you over for dinner at your earliest convenience."

"Oh!" That made more sense, Sakura almost chuckled, feeling silly. The first real smile in days crossed her face. "I'm freed the day after tomorrow, if that isn't too soon?"

He nodded, a strand slipping loose from his ponytail to brush against the pale skin of his cheek. "I will pick you up at 6:30."

"No!"

She did not need to be escorted, dammit! She wasn't an invalid."That's not necessary, thank you."

"Sleep well, Haruno." And he disappeared, ignoring her "Wait, I said no!"

A single black feather brushing against her cheek before vanishing.

She shut the door with more than necessary force behind her. The perfectionist in her twitched at the mess of her apartment. Books were stacked in haphazard piles forming a lopsided obstacle course. It was an insult to her ego and aim that so many clothes were outside the hamper, and she probably should have put the futon away. It wasn't enough to stop her from flopping onto her messy covers. After finally having a good meal, exhausted hung even heavier around her shoulders. Everything else could wait. She needed to sleep.

I&S&I&S&I&S&I&S&I&S&I&S

 _Something warm brushed against her shoulder. She shifted, unwilling to move, the tickling sensation dragged to the nape of her neck where a warm chuckle ruffled the short hair there. It pissed her off and she grumbled under her breath as she rolled over._

 _Undeterred, the same breath whispered over her ear. "Open your eyes, princess."_

 _She mumbled something along the lines of 'screw off' and turned her head away. She was tired._

 _It chuckled again, this time she felt it more than she heard it as open mouthed kisses traveled along her collarbones and across the sensitive flesh of her breast. Her back arched as a hot kiss enveloped her nipple. "Ah!"_

 _He groaned at her gasp, pulling deeply at her breast. After a moment, the suction stopped, and breath blew cold over the wet flesh as he whispered again._

" _Look at me." Her eyelids were too heavy. She just whined and arched her back again._

 _Obligingly, her dream visitor, pulled the neglected nipple into his mouth for the same treatment, before blowing over. Hands trailed over her hips, brushing down over her thighs. "Sakura, look at me."_

 _She shivered as fingertips brushed over the crease where her thighs pressed together._

 _The mouth pressed a last kiss to her cleavage before sliding back up her throat. A gentle bite was placed at the edge of her jaw and a tongue swept teasingly over her closed lips. "Sakura."_


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Okay, I am so sorry this has taken so long. It's been a weird few months. I'm looking for a new job, I moved across the state and my depression returned with a vengeance, but I'm not giving up! I will finish this story!

I want to Thank Everybody for all of the support and insights! They really do mean a lot.

Warning: This chapter contains Somnophelia, non-con. If you are sensitive about it, it's basically what happened in Ch. 3, but from Itachi's point of view. I just...when you take it out of dream context, I feel like it needs the warning. Itachi is being a creep in this chapter and it will get worse before it gets better, but it will get better I promise!

 **4**

She was confused, he knew.

Her temper was adorable, her slender fingers gripping the edges of the menu she wasn't reading just a little too tightly to be casual, her eyes flickering back and forth to him as she tried to compose her next move. He repressed the twitch of his lips at her suspicious look; she was too entertaining for her own good. He took advantage of her distraction to order Tempura Udon for both of them. Then sat to watch her over the rim of his own cup, his grip tightening as he watched her tongue swipe a grain of rice from her top lip with a delicate flicker.

He wanted to feel that flicker against his own lips, to chase her tongue back into her mouth. Taste the tea on her breath, tangle his fingers in her hair, feel the moans and shivers as she pressed against him.

He knew he made her nervous, it was obvious in the way her fingers clenched around her cup, the suspicious narrowing of her eyes. He didn't like the tense set of her shoulders, he didn't want her wary of him.

"Why are you doing this?"

She wasn't ready to know, he reminded himself, forcing his tone to remain neutral. "You need to eat-"-Kami, did she need to eat. Even in the warm light of the shop, she looked pale and sallow. The circles under her eyes, looked more like bruises-"-Even the best shinobi need time to recuperate."

She snorted in derision. "Since when? I've had to manhandle some of Konoha's best shinobi into bed, Uchiha-san."

His bloodline limit unfurled automatically as jealousy constricted his chest at the thought of someone else, another man, kissing her, seeing her beautiful body, those full, petal like lips forming another name as she writhed beneath their panting form-

He forced his sharingan to retreat, feeling the pain behind his eyes as he did so, his vision wavering slightly before sliding back into focus.

She didn't want to admit that he made sense, even in her exhaustion she was unwilling to admit that her work habits were unhealthy. Itachi enjoyed the fire in her eyes, and the defiant set to her jaw. It was easy to imagine arguing with her in the future.

Watching her eat was amusing and frustrating. Her manners were not as refined as most of his other clan members, but she wasn't messy. Instead, she ate with an almost quiet desperation, as if her body was determined to consume as much as possible before her mind realized what she was doing.

She seemed subdued after eating, making an attempting to pay for her meal before he paid the bill. He hoped his brother knew better than to foist off the bill on Sakura. Tired as she was, she still put up a stubborn front when as he walked her to her door. Her footsteps were dragging slightly again and her green eyes were slightly glazed over, but she refused to give an inch. Repeatedly reminding him that he didn't need to walk her home, her thinly veiled ire apparent in footsteps and the set of her slender shoulders.

His muscles ached with the need to bundle her sleepy form into his arms and take her home, where she belonged.

 _Patience,_ he told himself. She was safe for the night. He'd soothed her headache, made sure she'd eaten probably her first real meal in weeks, and he was personally making sure she reached her door.

The apartment building was aged and in unacceptable disrepair, the missing light bulbs setting his ANBU instincts on alert. She used no traps on her door, a ridiculous lack of regard for her own safety that nearly made him twitch. He knew it was time for him to leave, he could practically hear Shisui snapping at him to not be 'creepy', but he didn't want to leave her alone in the dark.

"When is your next day off?"

She twitched minutely as he spoke, before turning to look at him. Itachi didn't know if she realized, but this was the first time she'd ever looked him in the face. Even dull with exhaustion and narrowed in suspicion, her eyes were mesmerizing.

"My mother would like to invite you over for dinner at your earliest convenience."

She smiled.

Not the forced grimaces or polite mask she normally wore in his presence, but a _smile_. Her full lips parting to reveal her even white teeth, her eyes brightening with joy.

Itachi's gut clenched; he was dimly aware of making plans to escort her to the Uchiha compound. Her smile was making him dizzy.

"Sleep well, Haruno."

He left her standing in her doorway.

Instead of going straight home, he ended up in the Uchiha Library. The dark halls were even more quiet at this hour, the few determined scholars dragged home for the night. With his sharingan activated, he didn't need a lamp as he searched for a particular scroll. The paper was thin, stiffened with age and crumbling slightly at the edges, the kind of artifact that made scholar's hold their breath and wear gloves to protect their sweaty palms.

The Uchiha heir carefully unfolded the scro.. The slightly faded ink and cramped writing made his eyes ache, but he maintained his bloodline limit, absorbing and learning the technique. He didn't flinch at the obvious creak of one of the chairs, the subtle sound obscene in the quiet library.

"So, you weren't at dinner tonight."

Mockingly, Shisui propped his hands beneath his chin and stared at his younger cousin. The clan heir ignored him, meticulously studying the archaic words in front of him. "Ah."

"See, I told you. Slow and steady wins the race."

"Hn." Slow and steady would end up with her in the hospital or dea- _no._ No. Not her. He had found her in time and she was going to be with him and he would take excellent care of her.

The elder Uchiha rolled his eyes at the subtle killing intent rolling off of his agitated younger cousin. It figured, Itachi was an odd duck, even for an Uchiha, dating like a normal person was beyond him, but still, if he kept on this path..."I've seen what happens when people piss her off, 'tachi. Prodigy or no, if she landed _one_ hit, we'd be scraping what was left of you up to put in a jar."

"Do not address me as 'tachi."

A smirk curled Shisui's already mischievous face. "I bet you wouldn't mind it if _she_ called you 'tachi."

Itachi rerolled the scroll and replaced it among its brethren on the shelf, ignoring his best friend. Well, sort of.

 _The Uchiha house was dark as he stepped across the threshold, careful not to make noise as he removed his shoes and armor. He scrubbed the grime of his mission from his skin quickly, loosely knotting the sash of a yukata around his waist as he stepped into the bedroom._

 _She was illuminated only by moonlight, the silver light gilding her long hair, like a cherry blossom preserved in frost. Her smooth skin looked like fresh cream against the navy blue of… one of his yukata? He could see her fingers still curled around a book. Sometimes she tried to stay up waiting for him. He pulled the book from her fingers, raising her small hand to his mouth and kissing her knuckles. She murmured slightly in her sleep, brow furrowing in sleepy confusion. A smile brushed the back of her hand before his lips closed around the bone in her wrist, sucking lightly, before moving over to kiss her pulse._

"' _Tachi?"_

 _Her eyes opened and she smiled, reaching up with her free hand to cup his face-_

"Ugh. C'mon. Tell me how it went, I can't help you figure out your next step, if you're keeping secrets."

Itachi blinked and forced the fantasy to the back of his mind for revisit later. "She's coming to dinner."

"Already meeting the parents, huh? You certainly don't do things the easy way. Is Sasuke bringing her?"

Itachi shook his head. "I'm escorting her."

Shisui sat up and stretched. "That's something at least. It'll help her feel less like a lamb being led into a slaughterhouse."

"It was Mother's idea."

"Right, and I'm sure she would've brought it up even if you _hadn't_ been aggravating your 'darling little brother' over his neglect."

"Sasuke is not to be blamed."

"Exactly, that's a big part of the reason he's such a prick right now. Though, honestly, Sakura-chan isn't his fault-"

"Her well being is my responsibility."

"No, her well-being is _her_ responsibility."

Shisui ran his fingers through his hair. This was a mess and it was only going to get much worse before it got better. For Sakura-chan and his cousin. "Itachi, if you want a pet we can get you a goldfish or something."

Itachi glowered. "I have no need of a pet. She is your future matriarch."

Shisui groaned and raked his hand through his bangs again. "No, at the moment, she is your _potential_ girlfriend and _current_ object of your obsession."

Hooking his foot around the leg of another chair, Itachi took a seat across from his cousin. "I hate it when you're right."  
"Well, it can't be your turn all the time." Shisui's self-deprecating grin faded as he really looked at his cousin. Sure, Itachi was pissed at the moment, but underneath that. "Something set you off this time. What was it? Another shinobi?Proclaim her undying love for 'Sasuke-kun'? Did she hit on the waitress?"

"She's getting migraines." He could still see her wincing in pain, her instinctive flinch at his touch, the smooth delicate flesh of her temples, then the softening of her posture as the pain receded. He wondered if she realized that she'd leaned ever so slightly into his touch.

Shisui winced in sympathy. "From the pills? Does she know you have them?"

Itachi shook his head. "No, I want to give her a chance to come to me."

Shisui snorted. "Since when? Until recently, I was convinced I was going to have to explain her disappearance to the Hokage. Did you have a sudden change of heart? Mikoto-san knock sense into you? Get trapped in your own genjutsu?"

The Uchiha heir glowered again before dispelling his sharingan. "She smiled at me."

He wanted her smiles. He wanted her to laugh with him, tease him, blush for him, seek him out. He wanted her, willing and happy by his side.

Shisui's inner pragmatist rolled his eyes and continued making contingency plans for damage control, while the optimist in him noticed his younger cousin's softening expression. "That's a good sign. Now, we just have to make sure she's comfortable enough around you to do it again, right?"

This was actually a healthier thought pattern for his younger cousin. He was only half joking about explaining an abduction to the Hokage. Itachi was unstoppable when given a goal. And this was the first time in twenty years that Itachi had ever brought up wanting _anything_ for himself. He was going to have the pink haired girl one way or another, but if he wanted her smile, there was chance that this impending fiasco could be avoided.

Red eyes spun before the Uchiha heir vanished from the room.

The older Uchiha left his seat at the desk and went to the shelf where Itachi had been reading. He couldn't didn't know which exactly scroll his cousin had been using, but this section of the library was devoted solely to long distance genjutsu.

 _Let's hope you have some traps up Sakura-chan._

His room was dark and quiet as always, the lamps dim, but moonlight spilled across the floor from the open window. The quiet hum of cicadas helped him concentrate as he sat in his room, legs folded and crossed, wrists loosely set on his knees.

Long distance genjutsu was nearly impossible, unless traces of the caster's chakra were already present in the target. While, healing her headache wasn't the strongest connection, when combined with the minute amounts of energy he left along the walls of her apartment, it was easy enough. He could almost see her sprawled on her small futon, still wearing her clothes, the shadows under her eyes almost like bruises, her lips parted for soft exhalations, almost like she was waiting for a kiss.

His chakra pulsed and ebbed, worming its way into her consciousness. She had no mental barriers, while that worked in his favor currently, he would teach her not to leave herself so vulnerable. Layers of genjutsu fell over her mind until he slipped into her dreamscape.

 _The creamy skin of her nape and shoulders almost glowed in the moonlight. She didn't look real with her ethereal coloring and delicate frame. She looked like a faerie, or some kind of goddess._

 _He reclined behind her and nuzzled her hair. Her flesh was warm and slightly salty beneath his mouth. She groaned and grumbled adorably, rolling onto her back._

 _He huffed out a laugh. She was grumpy when she slept. He wondered how grumpy she would be if he woke her up like this. "Open your eyes, princess."_

 _Her dreaming mind had removed her scrubs and her pale-pink tipped breasts were better than he imagined, the flesh almost sweet beneath his mouth, stiffening against his tongue. She moaned, arching her back, encouraging him to take more of her breast into his mouth. Her full lips parted._

 _He felt a groan build in his chest as his blood rushed south as he sucked on her flesh until he pulled free with a soft pop, enjoying the way his breath over her wet nipple made the nub pebble and harden. He wanted to see her eyes, wanted them sparkling with tears and need as her voice broke begging him. "Look at me."_

 _She just whined and bucked impatiently. He closed his lips around her neglected breast. Her low moans reverberated through his body and Itachi answered with his own. His head felt light and his cock pressed insistently against his pants, the ache annoying, but he could manage to ignore it._

 _This was her dream and the success of the jutsu was dependent on sexual frustration. If either of them were satisfied, a new connection would have to be reestablished. Not his ultimate goal._

" _Sakura, look at me."_

 _His hand grazed over her hips and thighs, wanting to part them, spread her legs wide and bury himself between them. First his fingers, then his tongue, then his cock until she broke apart with a scream, his name on her lips. He settled for a punishing nip to the edge of her jaw, followed by a flicker of his tongue against her parted lips._

" _Sakura."_

He pulled from the jutsu as she settled into a deep, dreamless sleep and opened his eyes watching the moonlight on his floor. He ran a hand through his hair, pulling the elastic from his ponytail. He returned his hands to their original, meditative position and tried to deepen his breathing to relax, willing his erection away.

Genjutsu: Dream Demon

It was an ancient, forbidden technique dating almost back to the origin of his clan. Originally developed for female assassins, it was a form of genjutsu that allowed the user to establish to walk in the dreams of their target. It was mainly used to extract information or create a distraction, allowing the subject to be killed.

He knew Sakura didn't see him as a potential romantic partner or, even more frustratingly, as a man at all. This would weaken her defenses against him, creating an emotional vulnerability while he helped her heal physically. He wanted her aware of him in a way other than fear or nervousness. He didn't want to be her teammate's brother.

He wanted to be her protector, the body she turned to for relief from the cold of the night, the father of her children, and her shelter from all storms. She was strong, intelligent, beautiful, and passionate. She would be an incredible partner, a fierce mother, and a matriarch to be reckoned with; he wanted her so badly it hurt.

I&S&I&S&I&S&I&S&I&S

Everything hurt.

Her legs were cramping. Her stomach roiled and pitched like an adrift schooner while her head throbbed with every breath and her eyes reacted to every ray of light as though they were enemy senbon. If she didn't know better, she'd think it was a hangover, but Sakura didn't share her mentor's predilection for strong alcohol. Instead, the pinkette limited her vices to the occasional racy novel and multiple cups of strong coffee.

 _ **That's you drink to wash down massive amounts of illegally obtained soldier pills**_.

 _Shut. Up._

 _ **You know I'm right. This is withdrawal.**_

 _I didn't say you were wrong, I said SHUT UP!_

A particularly sharp pain splintered behind her eyes and the medic tried to discreetly rub her temples, only for her ever helpful braid deciding to replace the familiar feel of her touch with longer, slightly calloused fingertips, carefully massaging the ache.

 _No. NO. That was weird and a one time thing. Just an Uchiha headache trick._

 _ **Then why wouldn't Sasuke use it?**_

 _Probably because Sasuke-kun won't admit when his bones are broken, let alone tell me his head hurts._

 _ **...There is that.**_

"HEY SAKURA-CHAN, ARE YOU AWAKE?!"

"She is now, dobe."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY, TEME?"

Naruto only had two volumes; loud and unconscious whereas Sasuke could mutter so darkly, that only malevolent spirits could hear him.

Sakura stumbled, nearly tripping over her blankets as she stumbled to the door, jerking it open. "Shut up you idiots, I have neighbors."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry Sakura-chan."

Sakura just rolled her eyes, ignoring the arch of pain across her skull "Just come in."

She scooted a couple of books out of her way as the boys shuffled and removed their shoes. "Do you want some tea or something? I gotta wash my face real quick."

"Hn."

"That's okay Sakura-chan. Teme lost a bet with Kaka-sensei, so lunch is on him! Hurry!"

Sakura raised her eyebrow at Sasuke over her shoulder. "What was the bet?"

"Hn."

If it was possible, Sasuke's aura got even darker, chakra pulsing as Sakura went into her bathroom for a quick wash.

 _Ugh. Pig was right, I look like hell._

 _ **Well, I'm not going to argue with you.**_

 _Shut. Up._

Quickly, Sakura washed her face and brushed her teeth, and washing quickly with a cloth to make sure she didn't smell.

Sakura didn't have many civilian clothes, but luckily they all went together, She pulled on a pair of loose navy shorts that tied at the waist and a plain white tank.

Good enough.

She walked back into the living room, finger combing her hair. Naruto was rifling through her cabinet while Sasuke was flipping through one of the books, not the myopia study thankfully. She wasn't sure how to broach the subject with him yet.

"Sorry about the wait, ready to go?"

"Hn."

"Geez, Sakura-chan, and I thought my cabinets were bad."

Sakura pulled on her kunoichi sandals at the door. "Your cabinets are bad, my kitchen could still pass health code."

"Hey! I'm not that bad."

"Shut up Dobe."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!"

"Shush! Neighbors!"

Konoha was bustling during the day, vendors calling from their stands, off duty shinobi replacing supplies, and housewives runnings errands.

Sakura palmed her wallet and wondered if she had time to dart into the shinobi supply store for soldier pills. Just a couple to get her through the day. Not as many as normal since she wasn't at work.

 _ **Still think you aren't addicted?**_

 _I...I'm not that bad._

Inner snorted. _**And Sasuke's a social butterfly.**_

"Hurry up!"

Naruto practically dragged his teammate's to the familiar Ichiraku ramen stand where Sai stood apparently waiting. "Good morning Dickless, morning Hag I see you are attempting to get more sun on your sickly white skin to appear healthier."

"Shut, up Sai!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING 'DICKLESS'?!"

"You, of course Naruto-kun." Sakura was starting to wonder if Sai really was as clueless as he pretended to be. That fake smile of his was starting to look just a little _too_ fake.

Sakura sat down next to Sasuke, not bothering to look at the menu. Sasuke was watching her, weirdly enough.

 _What's with the Uchiha stare fest lately?_

"Is there something on my face?"

"Are you free tomorrow?"

"Huh?"

"Are you free tomorrow?"

"No...I thought I was invited to your house for dinner?"

Sasuke furrowed his brow. "You are. That's what I was going to ask you. Why do you know that?"

"Your brother asked me yesterday."

She thought she saw a flash of red in her teammate's eyes. "Aniki did?"

"Yeah...it was kind of weird actually. I thought you'd asked him to ask me."

"Hn."

"What? What aren't you telling me."

"Nothing."

 _Bullshit._

Sasuke looked as...weird, if she didn't know better, he was agitated.

"Okay...how's Shisui then?"

"What?"

"Shisui, your cousin? The only Uchiha with a vocabulary of more than three words?"

"Hn."

"Not that one." She poked him irritably. "Is he staying off his leg like he told me he would? Or has he already broken it again?"

"His leg was broken?"

"Yeah, he was in the hospital until yesterday. That's why I kept running into your brother which, no offense to you, was really weird."

"Weird how?" The bloodline limit was flashing again.

"Just...weird. Your brother is kind of a legend Sasuke, it's intimidating."

 _Plus, he's acting creepy._

 _ **For once, I agree with you.**_

 _Like I care._

"Hn." Uncharacteristically, Sasuke looked like he was actually going to say more, but-

"Yo."

Kakashi appeared across the table, a flushed Naruto and a grinning Sai on either side of him. "Found these two troublemakers outside."

"Hn."

Naruto started waving down a server while Sakura tried to kick Sai under the table and ignored Sasuke's gaze.

He'd find a way to tell her if it was really important.

After her meal last night, sakura was able to keep down her vegetable ramen with less difficulty than she anticipated, though she stopped at one bowl, drinking tea while the boys tried to apparently, rupture their stomachs through impossibly volumes of noodles.

"Chewing is for cowards!" Naruto crowed, trying to force Sai to swallow noodles without chewing them.

Sai answered with a stanged gurgle and Sasuke ate another slice of marinated tomato. Kakashi had already called it quits, a healthy stack of bowls next to him, and was already buried in his ever present orange book.

 _This is probably the best time to slip away if I wanted to run into a shop…_

 _ **Ugh, you are so stupid.**_

 _Shut. UP._

Quietly, Sakura muttered a thank you and slipped from the table and outside into the busy street. The markets were crowded, but not unbearable and she managed to find the right shop relatively quickly.

Shinobi shops were a strange mix of apothecary and armory with weapons, leather pouches, scrolls, and various herbal remedies all stacked close together with no rhyme or reason.

She was scanning a shelf when her nerves prickled in awareness and she whipped around, ducking and just avoiding Ino's grab. "Ha! Not this time!"

The blonde tossed her head and pouted. "Pssh! Lucky dodge."

"I don't need luck when I can hear your footsteps from a mile away!"

"Well, with ears as big as yours, I'd certainly hope so."

"Ugh, what do you want?"

"Hmm…" The Yamanaka heiress tapped her perfectly manicured index finger against her cheek mockingly. "Off the top of my head? A welathy, handsome boyfriend, a lifetime supply of snail sheet masks, and a best friend who's fashion sense didn't make me envy the blind."

Sakura stuck her tongue out.

"Very mature. Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, but we're taking a trip to the bath house, followed by Emergency Beauty Intervention at my house."

"What's the easy way?"

"You come with me willingly and I generously help you recover your pride as a woman."

The pinkette crossed her arms.

"And the hard way?"

"I get inside your head and you cartwheel the entire way to bathhouse and put on a peep show for whatever pervert is peeking today. _Then_ I generously help you gain the appearance of a woman, but without the pride."

 _Like she could get in my head._

 _ **I'll help this time! I'll even throw in some dirty limericks while we're doing the peep show!**_

 _Traitor!_

 _ **Idiot.**_

"Alright, fine. I'll go, but no snail mucus."

It was one thing to use it in medicine, it was another to smear it all over her face in the name of beauty.

"You'll go. And I will convert you to mucus."

"Noo!"

"Stop struggling or you'll start cartwheeling!"

"Why can't you just act normal?!"

Ino snorted. "Normal is for people with no imagination."

"Ew, it's slimy!"

"Shut up! Stay still!"

The essence soaked mask was cold on Sakura's freshly exfoliated skin, stinging around her newly plucked eyebrows, as Ino's practiced hands smoothed it over the contours of her face. "Alright, now I'm going to put a lip mask on you too. Mainly to keep you from talking, but it'll help with that whole 'scaly' look you currently have going."

Exfoliated, lotioned, and intensely moisturized, Sakura felt silly wrapped in one of Ino's bathrobes while the blonde draped a towel around her shoulders.

"I gotta get some of these dead ends off, it's too hard to look at you."

"MM-mm!"

"Don't worry, I'm not taking the length off, just trimming it so it's not quite as obvious that you chew it."

"Hgg-mph!"

"Don't you dare swallow that lip mask, it's expensive, and I'm pretty sure it's toxic."  
The feeling of a comb running through her hair, gently detangling it, was soothing. Ino tutted to herself as she combed the pink locks into sections.

Snip.

Snip.

Snip, snip, snip.

Snip.

Sakura's scalp tingled, the sensation trickling down from the crown of her head, down the nape of her neck and over her ears. She felt sleepy. Not in the exhausted slump that she normally felt when she staggered home from the hospital, but a warm, relaxed lethargy that made her limbs heavy and the world fuzzy.

"Go ahead and sleep, Forehead. I'll move your head if I need to."

Ino switched hands to comb another section down, tipping Sakura's head forward until the pinkette's chin was almost on her chest. "Besides, even if it turns out crooked, it'll still be miles ahead of the straw you had before."

"Shut up, Pig."

Sakura blinked slowly, her eyes almost too heavy to open. "Just for a minute."

"Sure."

"Hey Pig?"

"What? I'm concentrating."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

A/N: Okay, me again. So, I am SO SORRY again about how long this took and I'm sorry that Sakura has spent most of this chapter asleep! But, admittedly, girl probably is super tired! Next chapter is dinner!

And I've already started working on that one, so it shouldn't take as long. I'm sorry, I wish I could give you guys a set schedule, but I really can't at this point. I'm at the mercy of my inspiration.

How was Itachi? Too creepy? Is the plot making sense?

Thanks again to all my reviewers! I really appreciate all of the feedback and it means a lot to know that my work is being enjoyed!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry, this has been so long….and I didn't manage to get to the dinner in this chapter, I needed to flesh out Ino's character a little more. And I needed to work on Itachi a little bit, otherwise, he was going to turn into a horrific abuser and the only way for Sakura to gain back her autonomy would be to kill him and that just wasn't going to work. So, I had to storyboard a little more. I also fell down a Reylo rabbit hole, so it was hard to get my muse back there for a while, but I'm working on it!

I wish I could say I knew when the next update would be, but I don't. I really appreciate everybody who is reading and reviewing. Thank you so much for your support, it really means a lot to me.

Sakura was Ino's best friend.

She'd watched Sakura struggle against a system that only wanted clan nins to have recognition, preferring to leave chakra-gifted from civilian families as cannon fodder. She'd watched her best friend grow from a cry baby into a tough kunoichi that was a doctor to boot.

It sparked some petty rivalry, there was an instinctive part of Ino that didn't want to be shown up by a civilian kid, but all squabbling aside, the pink hair kunoichi was the closest thing the Yamanaka heiress had to a sister.

So she knew Sakura.

As sneaky as the brat thought she was, Ino could immediately tell something was wrong.

Sakura was fading fast, she was too thin, even her hair was thinning.

Her petite frame had gone from delicate to spindly and her skin was dull and waxy. The bags under her eyes looked more like bruises, and her lips were dry and cracked.

She was running herself into the ground, but something told Ino that it was worse.

Whenever she picked up a shift at the hospital, she saw the schedule; Sakura practically lived there. It was ridiculous, not even the Hokage could keep up that kind of work schedule.

The new recruits thought she was superhuman, but Ino knew better.

She looked at the slumped form of her best friend as she shook the hair covered towel into the trash can, disposing of the haircut residue. That was marginally better.

She wanted to work on her nails next, but Sakura looked exhausted, her breath whistling slightly through her nose since her lips were stuck together by the mask.

The blonde gnawed her lip for a moment, debating.

Normally, she couldn't get the drop on Sakura, not with a chakra based attack anyway, but at the moment, she was defenseless. That, in and of itself, was worrying.

Concentrating, Ino brought a soothing, green glow of chakra to her hands.

Just a quick diagnostic, she was just checking on her.

He pressed her hands to Sakura's shoulders and carefully eased tendrils of chakra into her system.

She sucked in a breath.

 _Oh no._

Her system was shutting down.

Very malnourished, scary deprived and Ino knew deprivation; some of the diet she went on as a teenager were insane.

This was worse, it was like her body was scrambling for nutrients, her chakra pathways felt fried, she didn't know how Sakura was _walking_ , let alone keeping up with that work schedule.

Wait…

Her perfectly manicured hands tensed slightly as she dug deeper. What was that?

Something was lingering in Sakura's system.

Like pseudo-chakra, it was animating her muscles and saturating her nerves. Some of it was pooled in her liver and kidneys, but some of it was slowly crawling up towards her brain.

No.

She took her hands of Sakura and pressed one to her mouth. "Oh forehead, no...tell me you didn't."

"Hmm…?"

Sakura groaned lifted her head, blinking blearily at the unfamiliar bathroom. "Didn't what? Trim my own hair? Only the once."

Ino knew her smile was forced, it stretched her lips tight, she'd have to moisturize them later. "Psh. Liar, with those split ends, you've been doing it for years. And what did I tell you about talking?! That stuff is expensive."

Sakura rolled her eyes and Ino saw the irritated vessels and watched as her friend tucked into herself like she was cold.

"I need a tea break, cleaning you up is hard work."

"Duzzt meen Ikkantlknw?"

Fluent in lip-mask speak, Ino waved her off.

"I'm enjoying the silence too much, let's wait till the tea brews and we'll negotiate."

Pig was a genius.

A mucus loving kidnapper, but a genius.

Sakura stared her reflection, giving herself a critical once over in the oddly flattering light of Ino's bathroom.

Her hair looked soft, thanks to something Ino called a "protein pack" and it was now an even sheet falling just below her jaw.

She was still a little pale, but whatever was in that snail cream had seriously helped her look more alive. She wasn't sure if she was a "mucus convert" yet, but it was impressive.

Her mouth looked kinda swollen. Pig had used some kind of sugar scrub to get all of the dead skin off her lips, then put a thick lip rescue mask all over them. It had smelled fruity, but tasted awful. Like the mucus, though. She couldn't argue with the results.

 _I look good._

 _ **I wouldn't go that far. You look barely human again.**_

 _Whose side are you on?_

 _ **Ours. When you get your chakra back, I'll concede decent. Until then, you need work.**_

Sakura rolled her eyes.

She was fine. A little shaky, but that was because it was cold.

Pig had let her borrow some pajamas while she made tea and she padded into the sitting room. She could hear Ino muttering to herself over the sputtering beginning of a heating kettle.

She folded herself onto one of the cushions on the floor, but the sudden change of position made her head swim.

That was happening a lot lately.

Sakura closed her eyes, tried to concentrate on the solid ground beneath her and waiting for her equilibrium to settle.

It didn't work.

Her head throbbed and her stomach clenched, her mouth water and the back of her throat felt tight. She barely managed to scramble into the bathroom when she started to gag.

 _What the hell was that?_

She shakily wiped the back of her hand over her mouth, she didn't think she could stand yet, her legs felt weak.

 _ **Well, let's think,**_ Inner mocked. _**What could possibly be causing these sort of side effects….couldn't possibly be the massive amount of drugs that you've been poisoning us with!**_

 _Shut up!_

"Forehead?"

"I'm fine. I think I swallowed some of that mask or something."

"I told you not too! Your system can't handle that kind of luxury! Anyway, I'm hungry again. I think I've got enough to make porridge, want some?"

"Uh...no thanks, Pig. Horrors of your cooking aside, I'm not hungry."

That was a lie, she knew she should eat something, but her system would be able to handle anything. Even the tea was risky.

"Too bad. You're gonna eat it and like it."

Ugh.

Sakura let her head rest on the rim of the porcelain bowl. It was cold, it kind of felt good.

"Get your face off the toilet, forehead. That is all kinds of gross! I'm not letting you spoil my masterpiece! Wash your mouth out and get out of there!"

 _Damn Pig and her psychic powers!_

Sakura pulled herself to her feet on noodle arms and rinsed her mouth in the sink to rid her mouth of any remaining bile. _I want to go back to bed._

There was tea sitting on the table when she slowly shuffled back to the room.

It was some herbal infused, something or other, from the smell.

Praying to whatever deity might be listening that it wasn't one of those 'detox teas' Sakura took a drink.

Mint?

She swallowed tentatively.

Alright...this could work.

She kept sipping slowly, letting it soothe her stomach.

The kitchen slowly started to fill with the familiar smell of okayu.

"How's the tea? It's a new one."

Ino set a bowl of porridge, thick with minced vegetables and what smelled like chicken broth.

…. _I could probably eat that….should I? I mean-_

 _ **Eat. It.**_

If she blew on her porridge before eating it, Pig didn't say anything.

Lord, that was good.

It warmed her stomach, and for once, she didn't feel like she was going to throw it back up.

"Save your porno noises for the bedroom, Forehead. I'll accept your apology for doubting my cooking later."

Sakura blushed, not realizing that she'd let out a soft sound, and took another careful bite of the porridge.

"Why are you eating porridge anyway?"

It was a weird thing for Pig to eat. Usually it was some kind of tough, leafy, fiber laden diet food that watching the blond hork down was an event in and of itself.

"Ugh, I despair of you sometimes, you know that? Everybody knows baby food is the new diet craze, right in between a liquid diet and low meat diet. Now shut up and eat!"

 _That doesn't even make sense, but none of her crazy diets do._

"You sure you aren't staying the night? If I find your freshly moisturized corpse in a ditch somewhere, I'll take my snail mucus out of your funeral cost."

"Ha-ha. Yeah, I better go. Thanks again, Pig."

"Just doing community service."

Pig paused for a minute before she closed the door. "Hey, Sakura?"

The medic blinked, in nearly 20 years of friendship, her best friend had used her name, maybe five times. "Yes, Ino?"

The blonde bit her lip. "You know can tell me anything, right?"

Sakura's tired mouth twitched up. "Of course I know, I'm okay Pig, really, just tired."

The heiress nodded once. "If you say so."

"I promise. Nothing is going to happen to me."

This was going to be a disaster.

Shisui rubbed his hands across his eyes, already feeling a migraine that for once wasn't induced by his sharingan.

The pill bottle in his hand rattled; he could not believe she was that foolish.

Being in ANBU Shisui had seen soldier pills both save lives and break ninja. He had a fair idea of which category Sakura was in, based on her rampant exhaustion. Borrowed energy was as hard on the system as poison. She should know that.

He snorted. She probably did; but that didn't mean much.

Every ninja had their issues. Came with the territory.

Speaking of issues, he moved his hand and looked at his cousin who was tending the large rock garden with single minded intensity.

"Did you sleep well last night?"

"Hn."

Shisui knew Itachi better than anyone else, so he was familiar with the defensive set of his cousin's shoulders.

"I found that scroll."

"Hn."

"Don't even. I know what you're doing!"

Dream Demon was a low blow, even for Uchiha. It was underhanded and invasive and Itachi should know better.

"Hn."

Shisui groaned and rubbed his hand through his hair. "What are you doing, Itachi?"

"Gardening."

It wouldn't be worth throwing the pill bottle at him, he would catch it.

"No, dumbass! With her! Do you really think that invading her privacy like that will make her return your feelings? Are you trying to hypnotize her?"

Itachi drew the small rake across the sand. "She has to know her limits."

"That is for her to decide, not you!"

"Hn."

Seeing the tense, stubborn line of his cousin's shoulders, Shisui sent up a silent prayer of gratitude that Sakura had been removed from active duty for a recuperation period.

If something happened to her in the field, Itachi would go ballistic.

"Let me ask you. Where did this even come from? I mean, last I checked, you couldn't be less interested in women, now you're chomping at the bit for your brother's teammate all of a sudden? Did the elders finally wear you down?"

Itachi didn't, wouldn't look at him. Of course he wasn't interest in just _women_ , he'd already had a perfect one in mind.

Shisui groaned and flopped down onto one of the larger stones. "What are you doing, Itachi-and if you say gardening, I'll deck you-but, what is this? Where is this coming from?"

Itachi put the rake down.

"She's strong."

Shisui snorted. "No shit, she's a beast. She leveled training field 12 last year. It's still not fully repaired."

Itachi rolled his eyes. Brute strength was just that, brutish. She was powerful to be sure, but the crybaby who broke under pressure, only to reemerge from the ashes as one of the strongest kunoichi to walk the earth? That was strength.

Shisui rubbed the back of his neck, he needed to try another tactic. If he pushed too hard, Itachi would start to see him as an enemy.

"She isn't from a clan, Itachi, what makes you think she would want to join one? This one, in particular?"

"She was interested in Sasuke, as a child."

Shisui rolled his eyes. "So, she's just filled with the burning desire to be a matriarch?"

The Uchiha heir flashed his sharingan. Shisui ignored it for the empty threat that it was. If Itachi wanted to be pissed any time somebody questioned his delusions, fine by him. With any luck, he would go blind before he doing Sakura any lasting mischief.

"Itachi, she was a kid. Uchiha brats can shoot flames, she was impressed. She got over it."

"Hn."

"What about the elders? She's close to the Hokage, Itachi, the council won't like that."

Pinwheels of sharingan rage flickered in his cousin's eyes. "The council is not my concern. She will be good for the clan."

"Is it just for the clan?"

"No. It has to be her."

"Why?"

"She needs me."

"Does she? Or do you need her?"

Shisui stared at the walls of the compound. "She won't like a cage any more than you would, Itachi."

"I'm not caging her, I'm protecting her."

The Uchiha heir's words were measured, methodical.

"She won't see it that way."

"She will."

Itachi's eyes lit with an almost unholy light, fervent, the way zealots spoke about their delusions.

Which wasn't too far off the mark.

Shisui felt a coil of fear in his stomach, not for himself, but for Sakura.

 _I'm trying, Sakura-chan._

The Uchiha had their own private training ground.

It wasn't as large as the ones for the academy or ANBU, but the terrain was more challenging. More places to hide and less space for open combat.

Itachi walked among the thick trees. The sunlight filtered between the branches, dappling the ground and leaving deeper patches of untouched shadow.

He could see here here, darting between the trees and branches, throwing teasing looks over her shoulder at him, biting her lower lip. Not frightened, never frightened.

Playing.

Teasing him.

Never close enough to touch, but not trying to escape.

He wanted to spar against her, feel the ground shake beneath her enhanced strength.

He wanted to feel her small form twisting and writhing beneath him when their blood was heated, wanted to watch her petite perfect breasts bounce as she rode him. Her nails digging into his shoulders and leaving scratches along his chest. To feel the soft skin of her hips as he held her in place until he could drive up into her. He wanted to bury his face into her hair and leave sucking kisses on the porcelain skin of her neck as her arms struggled to hold her on all fours while he covered her from behind.

Just as much as he wanted sex, he wanted to hold her after. Tuck her small form against his chest. He wanted to watch her face flushed with orgasm and see her green eyes hazy with pleasure and soft with affection.

Her willingly curling up against him, nuzzling his chest or his throat.

He wanted to hear her whisper muzzily, half asleep in the morning, wanted to watch her dress, wanted to see her happy.

He knew he could make her happy.

Shisui was wrong.

Sakura wasn't fine. She was crumbling, the constant stress she was putting herself through was going to kill her sooner rather than later.

Something vicious clenched in his chest at the thought of losing her. Green eyes wide and unseeing, bones straining against waxy skin, like the prisoners he watches hauled out of maximum security cells after weeks of neglect.

He would not lose her.

He would catch her and he would keep her.

No more double, or, he suppressed a flash of irritation, _triple_ shifts at the hospital. She would work reasonable hours, and so would he, knowing he had her to welcome him home.

She wouldn't be hungry anymore, with only expired food to turn to, wouldn't be alone anymore.

The only collapsing she would do, would be in exhausted bliss after her final climax of the night.

It would be perfect.

Sakura only owned one yukata.

It was a hand me down from her maternal grandmother, the other Haruno with pink hair.

She took it out of the box carefully, praying she still remembered how to tie her obi.

It was a soft, almost colorless base, tinged slightly gray green, with pale green leaves and pearly shoots of bamboo. It was very muted, but Sakura liked it. It didn't clash with her coloring.

Her obi was that same soft green of new leaves.

The silk was soft against her skin as she slid on the underlayer first.

Her tabi were clean and white, the geta had only been worn once to a festival when she was about fifteen or so, after that, she was always busy. The hospital never stopped, and if it wasn't paperwork or surgery, it was a mission.

Her hair wasn't long enough to pull back neatly, so she settled for combing it smooth.

She eyed herself critically in the mirror, then narrowed her eyes at the small collection of makeup in front of her.

Base was a no go. She had no idea how Pig managed to wear foundation and still look like she just had perfect skin, but Sakura hadn't mastered it, she always looked like she was auditioning for hunter nin.

She did look pale though.

She picked up a pot full of dark pink...juice?

She read the label. "Cheek and lip tint, huh? Use brush to apply dab to apple of cheeks or cheek bone, then dab with clean fingers or a sponge until blended."

Didn't seem to be too difficult.

She twisted the lid off of the container and pulled out what looked like a nail polish brush. It smelled like strawberries, or cherries. Something fruity and red, at any rate. She didn't trust herself to apply pigment directly to her face, no matter what the directions said. So she dribbled a little onto the middle and ring finger of her right hand, quickly replacing the brush and tapping her fingers first against one cheek and then the other, following with her free hand to pat and rub it into her skin.

She scrubbed off the rest of the color on her wash cloth.

There, not too bad. She looked healthier, almost flushed, but not clown like, which is what she was afraid of happening.

She dabbed a little more into the center of her lips and blended outward to make what Pig called a 'gradient lip'.

 _Okay, so far so good. That should be enough, right?_

 _ **You need something on your eyes.**_

 _I'm just trying not to look sick, not like a….a….painted woman._

 _ **Mascara, you idiot, it'll make your eyes look more awake. Also, 'painted woman'? What are you, ninety?**_

 _Shut up._

The only mascara she had was clear. Her lashes matched her hair and she never felt like she could get dark mascara off, it was always staining her under eyes, making her feel like a raccoon.

She curled her lashes quickly and put on a fast coat of that clear goop. Grimacing at the the slightly thick feeling irritating her eyes before giving herself another once over in the mirror.

 _Actually, that did help. I look better._

 _ **I wouldn't say better, but….passable maybe, if you squint.**_

 _You always know just what to say._

It was early, just after six, when she made her way to the door. She would just...get a head start. She was sure Sasuke's brother was busy...he probably forgot that he was supposed to come get her. Or maybe she could pretend she didn't hear him tell her that he was going to escort her?

 _ **Doubt it, the entire building probably heard you tell him no.**_

 _Dammit._

She scowled, pulling on her shoes, before pulling the door open.

"Haruno."

To her credit, she didn't shriek or jump, but she did tense, like a startled deer.

 _He's early!_

"Uchiha-san."

He didn't say anything else, he just stared at her.

… _.okay….creepy….._

His stare was different than Sasuke's. Her teammate stared like he was disappointed, with her personally, or just everything in general.

His brother's stare was different. More penetrating, like he saw past the small talk and fake smile and paint on her face. It was awful.

 _Jerk._

In her other hand, she had a small box of tea, the shop owner assured her that it was the Uchiha matriarch's favorite, the price gave her chest pain, so she prayed that he was honest.

She locked the door behind her and tried not to fidget under the ANBU captain's stare.

"I-uh-good to see you again, Uchiha-san. I thought Sasuke would be coming to get me."

"Hn."

Eloquent as ever.

She flushed, then smiled her best medic smile. "Thank you for taking the time."

"I said I would collect you."

Sasuke was not waiting for Sakura.

He wasn't anxious.

He was, being observant.

An important skill for a leader.

It wasn't because his brother had criticised him, he just needed to check on his team.

The Dobe was fine, it would take an act of the kami to hurt him.

Sakura….was probably fine. His brow furrowed, remember the last time he saw her.

She had always been small, he and Naruto had rocketed up in height and build at about fourteen, but Sakura, didn't, she stayed pretty scrawny, but she was always that way.

The house began to fill with a delicious and savory smell accompanied by sizzling as his mother started to cook. She hummed under her breath, quietly.

The Uchiha main house ran on a routine. They woke at the same time everyday, left on the same schedule, dinner was always served at the same time. Leftovers prepared in the event of someone's absence. The house even grew quiet at the same time.

Things rarely changed in the scape of Sasuke's world.

Until they did.

He frowned deeper, bordering on a scowl.

He wasn't aware that his brother knew his teammates.

It didn't make sense.

Was it because she was a medic? He knew Shisui was hurt on a mission a few weeks ago.

How did his brother meet Sakura?

Why did he know her?

" _Aniki."_

 _His brother looked up from where he was putting on his shoes. "Sasuke."_

" _Where are you going?"_

" _I need to collect Haruno-san."_

 _His brother's tone didn't change, but there was something in his voice that told Sasuke he meant something different._

" _Hn."_

 _Sasuke started to look for his own shoes. "I'll go."_

 _She was his teammate. She was his responsibility._

" _No need. She should be expecting me."_

 _His brother left without another word, leaving Sasuke standing the hallway while his older brother went to 'collect' his teammate._

He noticed that he was slightly clenching his hand, and willfully relaxed it.

He didn't care.

He didn't.

He would make sure his teammate was safe; like his brother said he would.

There was no reason for unease to sit like lead in the pit of his stomach.

He mumbled a swear under his breath, too low for his mother to hear, and headed for the door.

She was his teammate, he was going to get her.

She wasn't his brother's responsibility.

"Sasuke, where are you going?"

Later, the youngest Uchiha brother would refuse to admit to himself that he jumped in surprise. Considering his mother had never, to his knowledge, served a kunoichi, her ability to know everything that happened within the confines of her home was uncanny.

"Uh, to go get Sakura."

"Come into the kitchen, Sasuke, don't shout."

Groaning under his breath, Sasuke padded into the kitchen were his mother was quickly and efficiently slicing cabbage, his brother's favorite.

A pile of sliced tomatoes Sat marinating to her left and he started to reach for one.

"You'll spoil your dinner."

His mother finished the last of the cabbage with a final sounding chop, and looked at him.

"And speaking of spoiling dinner, where were you going?"

He started to flush. "Going to pick up Sakura for dinner, she's never been here before."  
She looked surprised. "Oh? Did your brother not go? He left a few minutes ago telling me that he was bringing her into the house."

"Ah."

"There is certainly no reason that both of you need to go frog march that poor girl to dinner. She's probably nervous enough being on the compound."

She scooted the cabbage over into a large bowl and pulled out a large daikon radish. "If you are looking for something to do, why don't you set the table?"

The uneasy feel in his stomach grew worse, like he was being constricted, but he obediently picked up the plates.

This was a test of his will power.

He knew that she would attempt to avoid him, her muffled protest when he left her on her front step gave her away.

Her small, rosebud mouth looked soft and full, flushed lips parted slightly in surprise when she met him at the door.

Her hair was soft and looked healthier than it had before, just brushing the slender jaw he wanted to stroke with his thumb while he sucked and nipped at her plump bottom lip. A delicate flush spread across her porcelain cheekbones, like afterglow. Her lashes glistened, softening the look of her suspicious green eyes.

She still called him "Uchiha-san."

He wanted her to call him Itachi. Wanted her to snap it in irritation, wanted to hear it lift in a happy greeting when she saw him, wanted her to call it, instinctively seeking him out, whenever she needed something.

He wanted to watched her struggle to form the word in between shrieks of pleasure while he took her. Then hear her whisper it quietly before or after an 'I love you' as she slept in his arms.

He saw the nape of her neck when she turned to lock the door and had to tense slightly to resist the urge to nuzzle the soft skin, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her back against his chest.

Her delicate frame wrapped in a yukata, her tiny feet in snow white tabi.

She looked like a doll.

His fingers itched to touch her, to feel and taste her smooth skin, cradle her in his arms.

He couldn't.

He couldn't act too quickly, he was insensible, regardless of what Shisui thought.

The best hunter's didn't give mindless chase, they laid traps.

He watched her careful footsteps out of the corner of his eye.

She wouldn't escape him.

Under his gaze and the deepening chill of falling night, he watched her fragile shoulders shiver.


End file.
